The Crests Within
by Planet Mads
Summary: Takari and Kenyako. ‘But the crests gave our digimon the power to digivolve.’ ‘No my dear boy they gave you a lot more than that.’ The DigiWorld is being plunged into a great war and this time the destined are doing alot more than just sit on the
1. Chapter One: Help is Wanted

Author's notes:**__**

1. This has some elements from X-men, I got the idea about them having powers like mutants.

2. In this story the digidestined sent their digimon back and are starting to try and get back to their lives. I am using the Japanese ages in this so Cody: 12  Tk, Ken, Davis and Kari: 14  Yolei: 15  Mimi and Izzy: 16  Matt, Tai, Sora: 17  Joe: 18

3. Tk/Ken friendship. Nothing more this is a Takari! Which also has some Taiora, Kenyako and maybe Mimato.

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

The Crests Within.

            "So you're having to move to Binshou?"*

"Yeah." Ken replied, brushing a lock of hair behind his ear. He was sitting on a chair in the computer room of Odaiba school with all of the digidestined.

"Why?"

"My parents want me to have a new start and they don't like all the Digital stuff. They think it's dangerous and want to move away from it."

"Sounds like something my parents would do." Mimi commented, as she snapped her mirror shut and pocketed her lip balm.

"What happened?"

"We moved to America." Ken's face fell and she quickly searched for something to make him feel better, "But I moved back in the end."

"You think that will happen?"

"Keep nagging them and they'll move back."

"It's soooooooo unfair!" Yolei wailed out, crossing her arms. "We're your friends you shouldn't be living in another town miles away from us, all by yourself."

"He won't be." Tk whispered.

"What are you on about Squirt?" Matt asked, his icy blue locking onto his little brother. Who was leaning backwards in his chair, eyes on the floor.

"Mum's been offered a job there, and she wants me to have a better education away from distraction." He spat out, he looked up at Ken a soft smile on his face.

"I'm guessing we're going to be having lots of fun in our new home." They could hear the sarcasm in Tk's voice. But knew that Tk was glad Ken was there, that way they wouldn't be alone.

~3 years later~

            Tai glared at Izzy from across the isle, his fiery brown eyes never leaving the red head.

"Would you stop it Tai!" Izzy cried out finally, after being glared at for half an hour. Tai smirked and continued to stare at him. A hand landed on the back of his head, cuffing him.

"Taichi Kamiya, be nice."

Sora said, as she settled back in her seat next to the brunette. Tai glared at her instead, she rose an eyebrow and smiled at him. She never was one to get annoyed with his tricks, she knew him to well.

"I didn't think that was possible." Matt said, a smirk playing across his lips as he looked at his friends from where he was standing.

"Be quiet Ishida." Tai hissed, even though the words sounded threatening they weren't. Tai and Matt were best of friends, they just teased each other a lot of the time.

"Shut up the pair of you! I'm not in the mood for this!" Sora yelled, Matt and Tai shared a knowing glance. The only thing they liked more than teasing each other was teasing Sora.

"You're never in the mood for anything. I swear the older you got the more boring you become." Tai said, Matt snorted and leaned against the wall arms crossed.

"Yeah, that's probably the reason her last date was well over three months ago."

"Matt!" Sora shrieked turning her eyes to the blonde. Matt knew very well that Sora had a _slight_ crush on Tai, and loved to remind her of her nonexistent love life in front of the brunette. He someday hoped that Sora would have to tell Tai of her feelings. They went together. Though he would never admit it. Because he was Yamato Ishida. Cool, aloof and heavily sought after rock star who had a heart of ice. Tai laughed at the outraged look on Sora's face.

"Tai, Shut up!"

"Ah, is poor ickle Sora sad that she is having to be stuck with her annoying friends on a loooooooooooong train ride."

She snarled at Matt before turning and glaring at Tai.

"It's not _my _fault we're on a train that's going to stop at ten different towns before getting to where we are actually meant to be."

Tai declared allowing his eyes to slide to Izzy who had at the start of the fight pulled out his laptop.

"Actually Tai, you'll find it is your fault." Kari said as she walked over from the carriage door and sat beside Sora.

"What?"

"You didn't listen to the end of Izzy's sentence if you had we wouldn't have had to follow you onto the train."

"Some little sister you are." Tai whispered as he leaned back, adopting a relaxed pose like Matt.

"What are you doing here Kari?"

"I got fed up of listening to Mimi and Yolei talk about the cuteness of every boy in our carriage."

"You didn't join in?"

"Nah. Davis was arguing with them every chance he got and World War Three was about to break out."

The others laughed at this before they fell into a comfortable silence. It was broken when a voice over the intercom sounded.

"We have arrived at Binshou."

            The group of ten made their way down the streets of the Japanese town.

"It's a lot larger than Odaiba." Mimi whispered, she shook her head causing the pink locks that had fallen into her face to move out of the way.

"That's what I said first time I came here." Matt said as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. He had come here once before in the summer holidays to check up on his baby brother in person. That had been nearly three years ago. They had kept in contact, letters, e-mails, mobile phones, but they hadn't seen the pair face to face in so long. They couldn't wait. Yolei suddenly stopped dead, staring at something over Joe's shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Is . . . Is that **their** school?"

Everyone turned and looked. A huge white mansion stood before them, with lush green fields surrounding it. There was a huge sign, the middle was white and it had a green trimming. In big black letters were the words 'Binshou's boarding school for gifted children.'

"Gifted?"

"They mean they only teach really smart children Yolei."

"Since when was Tk really smart?"

"Hey!" Kari cried out, putting her hand on her hips as she faced her friend, "Tk never let on but he was incredibly smart. They were going to move him up a grade when he started our school but he declined. He preferred to stay with people his own age."

"Kari's right." Joe said, pushing his glasses back up his nose, "Tk hid his brains, like everything else."

"What are you on about?" Davis asked giving them an annoyed glare.

"Tk always hides his feelings unless they're happy. He's always smiling and helping other people, he never thinks of himself."

"Bit like Ken."

"Yeah they always bottle up their dark feelings."

"Yeah the **three** of them always do that." Tai said turning his eyes to Kari, who blushed slightly and looked away.

"As much as I enjoy watching you discuss something interesting I'm going to have to break it up. We're here for a reason, to find Tk and Ken and have them aid us in the fight."

"You're right Izzy, we won't stand a chance if we start the battle without them. So troops let's move out!"

"Tai, we're not in the digital world." Sora commented as they wandered through the huge black gates and towards the main building.

"You'll be my troops in and out of the digital world."

"Oh great joy, being led by someone that has hair bigger than his brain."

"Shut up!"

            "I know they said it would be difficult to find them but this is ridiculous."

"Mimi's right, we've been here for an hour and still haven't found them. Let's go home"

"Davis, if it was you here and Tk and Ken were looking for you. Would they give up?"

"No."

"So are we going home?"

"No."

"Thank you. Now let's find my little brother and drag him and Ken back to Odaiba with us."

"No need."

"What is it Mimi?"

The four girls were standing on the edge of the field looking at something or someone intently.

"Somebody catch me."

"Why?"

"Because my knees have gone weak, look at how adorable Ken is." Yolei wailed out, her hands clasped tightly together as she followed the moves of their old friend.

"Ken? What about Tk? He's so cute!"

"You're right there Kari. Tk and Ken have gotten a lot better looking in the last three years." Sora whispered, though she said it in a more maternal way than Yolei and Kari.

"To think that our Little Tk would grown up to look like that." Mimi said, a smile on her face, as she watched the two walk across the grounds. Tk's blonde hair was messy and falling into his sparkling azure blue eyes. His skin was tanned and his body well toned, his hands were stuffed in his pockets. The blue jacket they were supposed to wear was nowhere in sight and the white shirt he was wearing was loose and undone at the top. Ken too was tanned and his eyes seemed more alight and full of laughter than they had been after the whole Digimon Emperor thing. His jacket flapping about in the wind, the tie he was wearing was loose and he had a bag slung over one shoulder. The two boys were walking across the field talking happily to each other.

            The boys were giving the girls dirty looks.

"Ladies, if you have finished your love fest. Can you stop drooling long enough to follow us so you can talk to them."

Yolei and Kari blushed while Mimi and Sora just smiled.

"I, Yamato Ishida, am not drooling over your little brother nor will I ever drool over either of them. I am just wondering if the pair have themselves a girlfriend."

Jaws dropped as they stared at Sora, who just smiled at Mimi and began to walk over to the pair.

"I . . .um . . n . . . No **way** does my little brother have a girlfriend!"

"You are just overprotective." Mimi said and ran over to Sora a smile on her face. Matt glared at them and muttered something under his breath. He bolted past the girls and ran across the grounds to his brother.

"Tk! Ken!"

The two turned and started when they saw who was running across the field towards them. Smiles split they faces and Ken dropped his bag as they dashed over to the group. Matt stopped and wrapped his arms round his younger brother, a huge smile splitting his face.

"You're getting to big Squirt." Matt whispered as he ruffled Tk's hair, the smaller blonde just looked up and smiled. Ken was presently being hugged tightly by Yolei and Sora.

"Matt let Tk go, I wanna hug as well."

Matt released his brother reluctantly who was then attacked by Mimi. The pink haired girl hugging Tk so tightly that she nearly suffocated him.

"Time to talk." Tai declared smiling at the pair.

            Once Ken had ran back and got his bag Tk and Ken had taken them to the room they were sharing.

"So why are you lot here?" Tk asked as Ken set down a try of drinks.

"Well, we got an e-mail from Gennai yesterday. It declared that the powers of the crests within will give us the abilities of far and beyond."

Ken and Tk both pulled a face.

"Is that supposed to make sense to us?" Ken asked sarcastically.

The others blinked wondering when had started to be sarcastic but ignored it. People really should change a bit in three years.

"We thought along the same lines. And the answer is no. Gennai also added that a great war was on the air, and soon we would all be fighting in it."

"Perfect."

Ken whispered as he ran his hand through his hair, Yolei swooned slightly. There was a sudden crashing and the door burst open then slammed shut as a blonde ran through.

"Sakamae, what's the matter?"

The girl looked up and smiled at Ken. She had long blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail. A pair of green eyes were set in a tanned face. She had the body of an athlete but the look of an woman. They stared at the girl as she smiled at them. Her eyes Davis noticed twinkled a lot like Tk's.

"The usual."

They nodded, and gestured for her to join them. She did, throwing herself into a armchair and propping her feet onto the table.

"So who's the group of weirdos?"

"Saka!" Ken yelled out picking a cushion up and throwing it at her. She glared and pointed a finger at him.

"Don't start on me Kenny-Boy. I may have to hurt you." He just smirked and leaned back.

"Saka?"

The blonde girl looked up at Matt and a smile went across her face.

"Yama!"

She turned and flung herself into Matt's arms, burying her face in his chest. Matt smiled and patted her head.

"How long has it been?"

"Four and half years!"

"That long?"

"You doubt my word?"

She asked sitting up and glaring at him, Matt laughed.

"Never, Runt, Never."

"Um, not wanting to interrupt." Mimi said, her tone icy and a red glow to her cheeks from her anger, "But who are you?"

The blonde smiled and leapt off Matt extending a hand to Mimi.

"Saka Takaishi, I'm Tk's and Matt's cousin."

"Your their cousin?"

"Yeah, my dad is older brother to their mother." She said gesturing to the other two blondes. She then blinked turned and glared at Tk and Ken, placing her hands on her hips.

"You two stood me up! We were supposed to be spray painting the teachers lounge! The lover boys found me!"

"Sorry."

"Ken Ichijouji, If you think that saying sorry is going to stop me from killing you then you have another thing coming!"

"Lover boys?"

Saka smiled and looked over her shoulder at Cody, "The Lover Boys are the ones that chase round girls 'cos of their looks, while the Lover Girls are the girls that chase round boys 'cos they think they're hot."

"Oh."

She smiled at him before turning her gaze back to her friends. "What shall I do with you?"

            After Saka had chased Ken and Tk around they had sat down and chatted. It turned out that Saka was also a digidestined, she had been in America when she had seen her first digimon. Her partner had only been seen by Tk and Ken in a transmission from Gennai three years back when they had first moved to Binshou. Matt sighed as he looked through the window at the waving figures on the platform. He wanted to smiled back at his little brother, but couldn't. He wanted to protect him, but he had an odd feeling that that would be one thing he wouldn't be doing. He could no longer protect his brother from the filthiness of the world. He would see it in full colour, soon. Very soon.

~*~

            A yell pierced the quiet air, the sound ringing off the walls. It stopped suddenly, and many a person that heard it wondered if it was a monster of some sort as the scream was so tortured.

"Tk!"

"What's the matter with you Tk?"

"Don't you recognise me?"

"Tk!"

"Wormmon where are you? I need help!"

_To be continued . . ._

*Binshou is the name of a town I made up. It means smart, clever or witty. 


	2. Chapter Two: They are Called Upon

Author's notes: 1. Tk and Ken are two of my favourite charters so I may delve into their friendship a bit. I know it's supposed to be Ken and Davis that are really close but I still think Ken and Tk have a better friendship. I think they would understand each other more.

2. ~*~ : a change of scene. ~Flashback~ is obviously a flashback.

3. I have subconsciously added a bit of Taiora and Mimato. I won't add much of Mimato, just a few hints. But I kinda did the Taiora parts without thinking. I can't change that now but my main focus will be the Takari and Kenyako.

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon.

The Crests Within. Chapter Two.

            Tk Takaishi readjusted the strap of his bag as he walked back to the dorm which he shared with Saka and Ken. He pulled his keys out his pocket and shoved them into the lock, opening the door he dropped his bag to the floor and slammed the door shut. He sighed and went over to the fridge, grabbing a carton of Orange juice. He pulled a glass out and poured the drink absentmindedly. The juice spilled over the side of the glass and onto his gloves. Tk hissed and pulled away, growling he dumped the glass and carton into the sink. Turning his back he pulled his glove off, he grabbed a towel and dried his hand then looked back at his sodden glove. It was black and fingerless, he didn't appear to need fully fingered gloves. Maybe it was only the palms of his hands. He looked back at his hand, it looked normal. He bit his lip, how he wished it was.

~Flashback~

_"Oh if it isn't the little runts."_

_"Ignore him." Ken whispered and the pair carried on walking._

_"You not listening to me eh?"_

Tk tuned out Benjiro's words and concentrated on Ken. Benjiro was what one would call the school bully. Ken and Tk really didn't know how he had gotten into their school, he really wasn't that smart. He didn't like that many people. But he hated Ken and Tk. It was probably because of the time  he was harassing Saka. She had come back to the dorm crying with finger marks on her arms, she had dropped into their arms and sobbed her heart out. Saka never cried, she prided herself on being tough and fearless. She hadn't cried since she was nine and she hadn't planned on doing so ever again. She had told them that he had pinned her against the wall and whispered disturbing thoughts into her ear. She managed to get away when a teacher came down the corridor. After begging them not to go up to him because he would find a way to deny it and get them into trouble they had agreed. But they promised they would stop him as soon as possible. The opportunity arrived at Lunchtime the next day, he had pulled her away, Ken and Tk followed. They had yanked Saka out of his grasp and yelled at him, screaming at him for hurting their friend. He had then attacked, but Binshou school taught the boys self defence. And Tk and Ken were very good at it, probably because of all their times in the digital world, they didn't know. But they knew enough to take him down. A crowd had gathered by the time they had thrown Benjiro to the ground and so had some teachers. They refused to listen to the pair, and had given them two month's detention. But they had achieved their goal, he never came near Saka again.

            Ken's phone went, he gave Tk an apologetic look and flicked it open and walked away to a shop corner.

_"I asked you a question. Answer it!" Benjiro screamed, Tk ignored him. The bully threw himself at Tk. The two landed on the ground. Like most bullies Benjiro was well built and a lot heavier than the blonde. They scrambled around on the ground for a while before Benjiro managed to get Tk pinned. Holding the squirming Tk down he proceeded to punch him, again and again. Tk could feel the side of his face swelling as the brunette continued to attack him._

_"When I've put you and your friend in hospital I'm going to go after your precious Saka. I'll get her and you won't be able to stop me!" He hissed in Tk's ear as he raised his fist to punch again._

_"No!" Tk yelled out and he wrenched his arms free and grabbed Benjiro's fists as it came flying through the air. Benjiro froze, as did Tk. His eyes rolled to the sky fixing on it as his body began to shake. Ken ran over after hearing Tk's yell and pulled the bully off Tk, Benjiro collapsed as Tk pulled himself into a ball rocking backwards and forwards._

_            He wasn't sure what happened next, he just remembered a great hate swelling inside of him. It wasn't his hatred, it was Benjiro's._

_"Tk are you alright?"_

_The blonde had looked up and Ken had hissed a lot of swear words under his breath._

_"What happened to your eyes?"_

_They had gone from a bright blue to a dull hazel, a hazel just like Benjiro's. The hatred inside of him swelled, taking control of his body and mind. He launched himself at Ken. His hands landing on the boy's bare arms. And once again he had frozen, feeling a new emotion swelling inside of him. Kindness. It overtook the hatred and anger, causing him to revert back to his normal self. He had pulled away and collapsed on the floor, barley hearing Ken's voice because of the ringing in his ear._

_"Tk!"_

_"What's the matter with you Tk?"_

_"Don't you recognise me?"_

_"Tk!"_

_"Wormmon where are you? I need help!"_

            A door slammed snapping Tk out of his memories. He looked up at Ken, who in turn gave him a soft smile.

"How are you?"

"Fine." He answered and he turned around, his back facing Ken. The boy reached out and Tk jerked away, waving his glove in Ken's face.

"Put it on the radiator."

Tk obeyed setting his glove down before he went back to pouring his drink. He sat down on the sofa turning the TV on. Ken sat down beside him, a packet of crisps in one hand, a drink in the other. Tk tried to listen to the TV, but all he could hear was a buzzing noise.

"You going to ignore me forever?"

"I'm not ignoring you."

"Seems like it to me." Ken commented as he raised an eyebrow at the blonde. Tk didn't reply, simply locked his eyes on the TV.

"See you are ignoring me."

"Ken would you stop it!" Tk yelled turning to face his friend.

"What is ignoring me going to achieve Tk?"

Tk's anger vanished replaced by a very pained look. He turned away from Ken, not meeting his eyes. Ken placed a hand on his shoulder, "Come on Blondie. What are you hiding?"

"I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You won't."

"I will, I hurt you last time."

Tk's blue eyes held such a great amount of pain and guilt that Ken nearly pulled away when Tk turned his eyes towards him. Ken bit his lip, last night had not been good.

~Flashback~

            _"Wormmon where are you? I need help!"_

_Ken whispered as he shook Tk's limp form. He growled and checked his pulse, he was fine. He crawled over to Benjiro, he wasn't. His pulse was slowly yet surely slowing down._

_"Tk what happened?" Ken murmured, as the pale boy pushed a lock of hair behind his ear. He felt incredibly weak. He was ready to collapse but he knew he couldn't. Something had happened, something important and he had to find out what. He shook the blonde again and this time received a reaction. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes, Ken did a retake. His eyes were slowly fading from the dull Hazel back to blue._

_"Tk what happened?"_

_"I . . I don't know. I **think** I absorbed his hatred."_

_Ken frowned, placing a finger to his cheek. How was that possible._

_"I think I also absorbed some of your Kindness."_

_Ken blinked and looked at Tk._

_"What now?"_

_"I might be able to give it back."_

_"How?"_

_Tk dragged himself over to Benjiro. Somehow he knew what to do. It was like being an expert at riding a bicycle and then not bothering to do so for a year. And when you get back on the bike you think you're going to fall off, but somewhere deep in your subconscious knows and tells you what to do. His subconscious knew what to do and as it he obeyed it. He held his hands above Benjiro and closed his eyes. A golden glow spread out from his palms, the air below them seemed to sparkled and glitter. And quite suddenly Benjiro snapped his eyes open._

_"You." He hissed at Tk, getting ready to fight again when a police officer walked down the street._

_"What are you boys doing."_

_"Nothing Sir." Ken called out grabbing Tk by the arm and pulling him away. Just before he rounded the corner Tk called out to the bully._

_"Do you hate us?"_

_"Of course I do."_

_Tk smiled and nodded, he quickly held his hands over Ken's chest. The same effects happened. Ken immediately felt as if a part of him had been given back. He felt completely whole again. He had looked over at Tk and smiled, they had turned and walked home._

_~End Flashback.~_

            Ken had given Tk the gloves when they had gotten back, they had then spent hours discussing what happened. They had come to the conclusion that Tk could somehow absorb people's emotions. The reason Benjiro had started to die was that your emotions were a part of your soul, and you couldn't live without your soul. So he had started to fade away. Ken had been slower as Tk had only taken a small part of his emotions. But enough to kill him over a certain amount of time.

"Tk, with the gloves you're not going to hurt anyone. But what you have to understand is that we have to find out what is happening to you. We should call the digidestined." Ken decided as an after thought, standing up and heading for the phone.

"No." Tk grabbed Ken's arm, careful not to let the bare skin on his hand touch Ken's. "Not yet, I can't face them now."

Ken nodded and instead pulled his laptop open, "I'll e-mail Gennai, I'll make sure that he doesn't tell the others. Okay?"

Tk nodded and watched as Ken furiously typed away at the keyboard. Things had just got a lot harder.

            Ken smiled slightly over the rim of his mug as he watched Tk collapse into the armchair. Gennai hadn't replied to their e-mail yet, it had now been a week and the pair were trying to act normal.

"Bad day?"

"You have no idea." Tk declared as he covered his eyes with his hands. Ken chuckled and set down his tea.

"Did the Head Mistress intricate you as well?"

"That was the beginning." Tk murmured from behind his hands, Ken just smirked. The door opened and Saka walked in, she smiled tiredly before dropping onto the sofa next to Ken.

"Can you believe the Head Mistress would think that **we** put worms in the spaghetti?"

Tk laughed at that point, a twinkle resurfacing in his eyes.

"Well you know we haven't been the best students in the world . . . . ."

"Yeah there was the time we coated her assistant in mud."

"And the time we let the frogs loose in the science lab."

"Or the time we left lots of cheese in  the Maths room and opened the cages in the science store room that contained thirty rats."

The three smiled, they were the most loved students at Binshou's boarding school, the three were smart, good looking and loved playing tricks on the teachers. Most people adored them especially after they threw the test papers in the pool and claimed that the window had been left open and they had floated out. Yep, Tk, Ken and Saka were a cheekier version of Tai, Matt and Sora. Weird how the most innocent of people turned out to be the ones that put the itching powder in the washing powder.

"I have to go." Saka said as she walked into her room, they could hear her running around getting ready.

"Where are you going?"

"Meeting the cheerleading squad for ice-cream."

Even though Saka hanged out with them they couldn't say she was a complete tomboy and didn't have any friends that were girls.

"Say hello to the Gal Pals for me."

"Very funny Ken." Saka hissed as she came out, tying her long hair in a ponytail. Tk snorted causing the girl to become even more annoyed.

"I wish the pair of you would stop calling them that. It's not very nice."

"Who said we were nice?" Ken asked, he looked over at Tk, pulling a fake confused face.

"Hilarious." Saka remarked dryly as she grabbed her keys stuffing them in her pocket and walking out the door. The boys smiled, there was nothing that a good dose of Saka teasing couldn't cure.

            It was half an hour later that Ken and Tk found themselves wandering round Binshou aimlessly. It was Friday which meant they could stay out as long as they wanted. On most weekdays they were allowed to go out until eight, but at weekends they could stay up as long as they wanted or go and see their families. Ken and Tk went to see their parents every other weekend and usually called them once a week.

"You know after the digital world adventures, I kind of wished there was a disaster again." Tk whispered out of the blue suddenly, Ken looked over but Tk's eyes were fixed on the pavement.

"I wanted to see Patamon so much."

"I understand, I missed Wormmon terribly and I still do."

The two lapsed into silence, their minds on past memories not on the world around them. Maybe if they hadn't been lost so deep within themselves they would have noticed the rocks that were tumbling down from the cliff side to reach them on the beach. But as it was they didn't notice until they were sprayed with dirt and grim, with a huge rock a metre above them. Tk cried out covering his head with his arms. Ken threw his arms into the air, pointing them at the rock. They both shut their eyes waiting fro the inevitable, so Tk was very surprised when he didn't find himself flattened under a chunk of the cliff. He looked up and blinked, Ken was shaking and sweat was dripping from his face. His arms were still outstretched but what really shocked Tk was the fact that the huge rock was floating in midair. He watched as Ken slowly brought his arms round to the right, the rock moved to the right as well. With a sigh he pulled his arms back the rock dropped, spraying the pair in sand. Ken looked over at Tk, a confused expression on his face, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed.

            Tk flung back his drink, allowing the cool water to rush down his dry throat. He wiped his grubby hands, desperately longing for a shower but not wanting to leave Ken. Tk had carried Ken back, luckily no one had been around seeing as it was round midnight. Otherwise there would have been questions asked, he had put him on the sofa and covered him with a blanket. That was half an hour ago, he rubbed his tired eyes forcing them to stay awake and watch over the violet haired boy. A soft moan shattered the quietness that seemed to have settled on the dorm.

"Ken?"

"T . . Tk?"

"Yes?"

"Wh . . what happened?"

"I'm not sure. Drink?"

"Yes please." He croaked as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, Tk handed him a glass of water which Ken drunk greedily. The boy wiped his mouth and faced the blonde.

"Now truthfully Tk, what happened?"

Tk looked down guilty, his brows furrowed.

"I'm different Ken, I'm changing and so are you."

"But changing into what Tk?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, but whatever it is that's morphing inside of us is very strong."

"So strong we may not be able to control it?"

Tk looked up and nodded, Ken bit his lip. He wanted to know what was wrong with him, what was going on. His first thought was to call the other digidestined. But what would they think of them? He now understood why Tk didn't want the others to know. The fear of rejection hung in the air and Ken just couldn't face that. Not now,  not when he had fought against all odds to become friends and be accepted.

"Gennai again?" Tk asked, a small smile playing across his lips.

"That would be good."

            "Takeru Takaishi, get your lazy ass out of bed!"

Tk winced and pulled his pillow over his head, it didn't block out the sound of persistent banging.

"Go away Saka!"

"Make me! Get up you baka."*

Tk mumbled something incoherent into his mattress. He and Ken had talked for a while longer before the pair had each had a shower and gone to bed. By then it had been Two Am, it was now Tk glanced over at his alarm clock, Six AM. Tk heard her footsteps walk away and her banging on Ken's door.

"I'm tired."

"Well it's not my fault the pair of you went to bed late."

They could hear her footsteps fade away slightly, "You promised me you were going to come with me to the park. So get your lazy butts out of bed."

They could hear her stomping across the hall and out the door. Tk yawned and pulled himself out of his bed, after pulling on his clothes he met Ken in the hall.

"Mornin'."

Ken yawned in reply to Tk's statement, Tk chuckled and walked towards the door when a beeping reached his ears. The blonde spun round and stared at Ken's laptop, flicking it open he stared at the e-mail."

"What the?!" Bright light enveloped Tk and Ken, their images flickered and they were pulled into the computer.

~*~

            Kari tossed and turned in her bed, sweat beading on her forehead. She woke up with a strangled scream, causing her brother to run in.

"Kari?"

"Tk. . . Tk and Ken. Oh." She moans and buries her face in her hands, tears pricking her eyes.

"What is it?"

"They're after them."

Her huge fearful eyes lock onto Tai's and turning he runs for the phone. Time for a talk with the Digidestined.

_To be continued . . . _

* Baka is idiot in Japanese.


	3. Chapter Three: The Gates are Closed

Author's notes: I am so very sorry for not updating in ages but I've been adjusting to being back at school. I know that really isn't a good reason but hey what's a girl to do when she has little time and her muse's have fled? I got a review telling me that my version of Tk was not real enough and looking back I think that perhaps they're right. I'm not going to change the chapters but try and make Tk a bit more like he was in Season Two. I'm sorry if I was a bit more biased to Tk than the others and I promise I'm not trying to destroying Ken's and Davis's friendship. I will be adding some more Ken/Davis friendship and Tk will start being more like his old self. I always planned on having him hate the powers of Darkness and being upset that his family was split up etc. I just hadn't got round to putting it in there yet. I wasn't trying to make him perfect in the last chapter, just afraid of rejection from his friends and hurting them. That's why he was getting angry, I made Ken feel the same just on a lower level as his powers don't hurt anyone if you just touch them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

The Crests Within. Chapter Three.

            Sora closed her eyes and buried her face in Tai's shoulder, she was dressed in a nightgown, bath robe and slippers. After getting a call from Tai telling her that Tk and Ken were in danger and needed to talk **now** she had made her way over and was waiting for the others. Tai squirmed beneath her, his bare foot tapping the carpet. "Stop fidgeting, it won't make them arrive faster." Tai gave her a soft smile and stilled his movements only to have to move again when there was a knocking at the door. Gently lying Sora's head on the sofa he moved across the floor and opened the front door. Izzy, Mimi and Matt stood before him, he gestured them inside and slammed the door. He growled when the door bell went ringing loudly in the apartment, wrenching the door open he glared at Davis who smiled sheepishly at Tai as he slipped inside with Yolei, Cody and Joe. Once everyone was seated, some people lying on each other and nearly falling asleep, others simply staring into space Tai cleared his throat and started.

"I'm sorry for waking you all but we need to talk." Mimi looked up from Matt's chest and glared at Tai before she sleepily snuggled back into his arms. "Kari woke up from a nightmare earlier about Tk and Ken."

"So what?"

"Davis tell me what you mean by 'So what'?" Sora hissed raising her head from a pillow and glaring at the boy. She could tell by the looks on the others faces that they thought along the same lines.

"Why is it so important?"

"Because it's a very, very, **very** bad sign."

"Why's that?" Cody asked sending a confused look at Izzy. The genius rubbed his eyes tiredly and yawned before starting. "We older digidestined discovered this out a while ago, but Azulongmon's words confirmed it." Izzy flipped the lid of his computer open, took a deep breath and started. "Hope and Light are the two most powerful crests there are. They are connected, as Azulongmon said you can't have one without the other. They are what the Digital World are based on. Now if Hope and Light are connected then so are . . 

"Tk and Kari."

"Precisely Cody. Now Tk has always known when Kari has been in danger or upset and has been there to protect her along with Tai. Likewise Kari for Tk. When we were ten Tk had a nightmare that Kari was run over by a car and insisted on going to see Matt and Kari. Kari and five of us were waiting for Matt and Tk to show up, when Kari saw a kitten in the middle of the road. She walked strait out to pick it up and take it to safety when a car came strait towards her. There was no possible way for any of us to reach her in time because she was closer to the other side of the road than ours and there was on one else around. So we were all surprised when a blonde blur knocked her and the kitten out of the way. At that point Matt came pelting round the corner screaming for Tk to slow down when he saw the car skid to a stop where Kari had stood moments earlier, he realised what happened. Since then we have taken anything Tk or Kari see in their dreams seriously."

"So your saying that Kari has witnessed Tk and Ken being in danger, so they most likely will be in danger very soon."

"Or now." They all turned to stare at Izzy, Matt glaring viscously at the redhead who dared to suggest that his little brother may be in danger with him not there to protect him. "Kari had that dreams hours ago, the pair could well be in danger this very second."

"I don't like the sound of that." Matt mumbled, brows furrowed as he ran a hand through his hair. "What do we do?"

"Well we can't phone them, but we can e-mail them. Because wherever they are they're going to bring their digivices. You know that we digidestined never go anywhere without them." The others nodded and let Izzy type up an e-mail on his laptop.

"Kari?"

"Yeah Mimi."

"Out of curiosity what did you see?"

"I didn't see that much actually" Kari whispered, rubbing her tear stained face, "I saw Tk and a rather foggy Ken."

"Foggy?"

"Yes, it's Tk that I'm connected but being a Digidestined means that we are all slightly connected so I could see a very fuzzy Ken."

"Did he look like you do when the Dark Ocean tries to get you?" Kari looked over at Yolei, the memory of when the two of them had met up with Ken and the Ocean had nearly taken her and the boy genius. She slowly nodded and blocked the memory as she carried on. "I could see some dark shapes which looked to be like digimon, I couldn't see the landscape at all. I heard Tk yell for Ken to run and . . . and it was like I . . I could sense their emotions. I could feel the fear radiating off them and feel the hate and destruction raging within the digimon that were after them." Kari whimpered, wrapping her arms round her legs as she rested her chin on her knees. "It was so strong it was terrifying, I . . .they . . it was awful." Kari's eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she thought of the things that might happen to them.

"I've typed up an e-mail and which we'll send first things in the morning and if you really want too you can phone them as well. But for now I suggest we get some sleep."

"I'm to comfortable to move." Mimi whispered from her place in Matt's arms, they others nodded their agreement and snuggled down where they were. "Well I suppose you could stay the night." Tai whispered as Sora leaned against his shoulder and the digidestined drifted off to sleep. Not knowing of the pains that Tk and Ken were facing at that moment.

~*~

            Tk groaned and slowly opened his eyes, above him the stars were shinning merrily. The blonde sighed as he slowly picked himself up. He looked to his left to see Ken sprawled some feet away from him. Crawling over Tk proceeded to shake him awake. "Wha?" Ken mumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Digital World."

"The others?"

"Ain't see no one yet, mind you I just woke up." Nodding Ken pushed himself up and looked around at the dark jungle they had landed in the middle of. Tall lush green forests towered over them, beautiful flowers decorating the place though their colours were dulled in the darkness of night. Ken smiled as he looked up at the sky, "Well I guess we got the nap we wanted?"

"Ha ha, funnily enough I didn't want to sleep for the rest of the day, nor did I want to sleep in anything but my lovely warm bed." Ken threw his head back and laughed, "Let's go and find our friends. They can't be too far away."

            After searching in the surrounding jungle they realised that they might be a bit further than they thought.

"Could this get any better?" Ken asked as he wrapped a piece of cloth which he tore from his sleeve round his hand. The plants weren't as nice as they looked, and lots had sharp edges causing Tk and Ken to come out with a number of cuts and bruises.

"Saying that will only make some mad evil digimon appear and try to kill us, so please don't. Anything that could possibly could happen here happens if you provoke it." Ken smiled slightly at Tk's words and shook his head, but he knew the blonde was right just about anything could happen in the Digital World.

"What do you suggest we do now?"

"Well without our Digimon we have no way to protect ourselves but . . ."

"But what?"

"You see Ken if we stay here we'll be easier to find, by both good and bad so if we keep moving maybe we'll stay out of trouble. The fact that we were pulled here without our digivices is annoying seeing as we could have contacted the others. So I suggest we find out where we are and make for somewhere safe."

"Where would somewhere safe be?"

"Gennai's."

~*~

            "Taichi Kamiya! What is going on?!"

Tai opened an eye slowly and squinted at his mother who was glaring at him, hand on hips.

"Wha?"

"Why are all your friends sleeping in my living room?"

Tai was wide awake in a second, taking in the sleeping forms of his fellow Digidestined's. He gave his mother a sheepish smile which faltered when she glowered at him even more.

"Digital meeting." His mother rose an eyebrow at him and turned on her heel and marched from the room. She knew enough about the Digital World to release when it came to things about the parallel dimension that it was best to leave them to it. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he gently shook Sora awake, the girl started when she saw Tai and let out a cry of surprise as she fell off the sofa. Tai burst into laughter, waking the others who watched sleepily as Sora yanked the brunette onto the floor with her. Where the pair started to have a play fight. Rolling his eyes Matt stood up and gently placed Mimi in the space he was just in. Stretching his arm's the blonde sighed and picked up Izzy's laptop.

"HEY!"

"I'm not gonna break it."

"How do I know that? Give it back."

Dancing out of Izzy's reach he pulled up the e-mail and pressed the send button.

"Done."

"Great!"

"Yeah but what now?" Mimi smiled brightly at Matt, "We be patient and wait for a reply."

"I'm not patient." Matt mumbled as he gave Izzy back his laptop who started checking it over, rolling his eyes Matt marched into the bathroom.

            It was after Matt had come out and they had phoned the dorm to have no answer, both their parents to say that though the pair had promised to ring them yesterday and hadn't along with the numerous e-mails that hadn't been replied they had started to worry. Tai watched as Matt paced the floor like some wild animal trapped in a cage, the blonde running his hands through his hair repeatedly, not caring that he looked a mess. "Sit Matt." Mimi said in a cold tone, a glare going along with it. Tai smirked and rose an eyebrow at her, in reply she smiled back and leaned forward her eyes fixed on Matt.

"Sit down."

"No." He looked up at her for the briefest of seconds, long enough however to give her the famous 'Ice Stare' before resuming his pacing.

"It wasn't a question." He stopped and stared at her, annoyance flickering across his face. He opened his mouth to make some smart comment about not everybody thinking she was a princess, so he had a right not to obey her when she interrupted him. Standing up she glowered fiercely at the blonde, her hand on hips. "Yamato Ishida, wearing a hole in Tai's floor will not make Tk come back any quicker! The fact that your little brother would be horrified with you if he knew you were snapping at everyone and being downright rude. He would tell you that anger leads to nothing, am I correct?"

"**He** thinks anger leads to nothing, However" He sent her a icy smirk before turning round to pace again. "I find it helps me feel better."

"You are acting like a five year old! Stop being so pathetic! Tk says anger clouds your judgement and yours is so clouded that you think that being nasty to your friends is a normal thing to do." Matt winced slightly as if she had visibly slapped him. Mimi watched as he deflated, all the anger vanished from his face as he looked forlornly at her.

"I'm sorry, I . . . . I didn't meant to I just  . . ." He pulled a face as he rubbed his eyes, refusing to let the tears fall. They didn't **know** Tk and Ken were in trouble, there was no reason for him to worry. Yet . . . in his heart he knew that Tk was in trouble. He always got the same painful felling as if someone was ripping his heart into pieces when his brother was in danger. He didn't know how he knew, it was just something he and Tai had about their baby siblings, Tk and Kari. Mimi nodded a small smile on her lips, telling him she understood. She gestured to the chair beside her which he fell into, massaging his temple hoping to expel his awful headache. It was then that the phone went, causing Matt to jump out the chair as Tai grabbed the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, um is Matt there please?"

"Yep, hold on." He shook his head at the blonde as he handed the phone over. It wasn't Tk or Ken, Matt nodded and pulled it to his ear.

"Hi?"

"Matt it's Saka."

"Hey Runt what's-"

"They've gone."

"What?"

"Tk and Ken, they promised to meet me in the park but they never turned up. When I got home, prepared to knock them senseless for falling asleep again I found that they hadn't. They were gone, no body had seen them leave. And the only things missing were one set of clothes each, which they would have been wearing. I'm worried." Matt sunk into a seat, there was no other explanation. Tk and Ken were in the Digital World, how else could they have gotten out without being seen.

"Matt?"

"Er, if I find anything I'll tell you okay Saka?" She sniffed down the phone, obviously crying. He didn't blame her, her two best friends had vanished without a trace.

"Alright, Bye."

"Bye."

He slammed the phone down in it's cradle, "They're in the Digital World."

~*~

            Ken groaned as he dragged his feet through the grass. His head was pounding as he and Tk trekked across miles and miles of land. The sun was beating down on them, causing the two boy's two remove their shirts as they made their way to a village. "You sure it's this way?" Ken asked as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm, sending a glance at the blonde. "Er, nope." Ken stopped dead, glowering at his friend. "You mean you don't know where we're going?"

"Not a clue, but we'll run into something sooner or later."

"Tk." Ken wailed out, the blonde stopped and rose an eyebrow at his friend. "Ken when me and the others first came to the digital world, there was no digiport to take us from one place to another. We walked for miles each day, and we were here for many a month. We had no idea where we were going or what we were supposed to be doing but we did it anyway. WE never had the information that the second generation had, we learnt that from risking our lives as we travailed the digital world in hopes of restoring it. A small walk won't do us any harm, count yourself lucky you didn't have to do what we did." Ken pulled a face, not liking the idea of having to walk for miles of end without knowing what you were going to face. He looked over at the blonde and smiled, "Alright, aright you've proven your point. But no more lectures okay? You're starting to sound to mature for your own good." Tk snorted and resumed his walking. It was an hour later when Tk and Ken were having a rest that they noticed the digimon. It was running across the land, leaving a trail of dust in it's wake. Tk bit his lip and looked over at Ken, nodding the two turned and made to the right. Hopefully the digimon would carry on going on a strait line and wouldn't spot the pair if they made to the side. How very wrong they were.

"Tk, it's changed direction." The blonde looked back to see Ken was right, the creature was now making its way towards them. Tk hissed and bolted, the two ran as fast as they could begging that the digimon would slow down and go the other way. No such luck, it's sped up bounding across the dried out moors to catch up with them. Ken glanced over his shoulder seeing the digimon gaining on them with every step. "Tk!" The blonde looked over at his friend, "I'm going to try to stop him with my er . . abnormality." Tk nodded and the pair skidded to a stop. Ken turned round and extended his arms, eyes closed. The digimon bounded over making a dive towards Ken and Tk only to stop in mid-air. It looked much like an overgrown dog. It's fur was quite short and a bit shaggy, grey in colour. It's face looked like a cross between a wolf, dog and lion. It had the snout of a lion, the pointed ears of a wolf and the rest of him was like a dog. It's eyes glittered manically as regarded the two. He let out a roar as he started to thrash widely, Ken's arms started to shake. The digimon let out another yell and pulled both his claws in front of him. "Slamming scratch." The claws in his paws shot forwards imbedding themselves in the ground near Ken, in a few seconds they exploded throwing the boy into the air. Ken landed with a painful thump on the ground, as the digimon also fell to the ground but managed to land on it's feet. It glared triumphantly at the still form of Ken before it's eyes landed on Tk. The teen swallowed as he slowly started to back away, the digimon launched himself at the blonde. Tk cried out as the digimon slammed him to the ground, he scrambled backwards as the digimon reached out to bite him. His teeth snagged the material of the boy's gloves, tearing them. He growled and dug his paw into Tk's leg and moved forward, jaws opening when it froze as his eyes rose to the sky. Tk's hand was touching the digimon's fur. He cried out as he felt the darkness transferring into his body. Fear laced his heart as he remembered what had happened the last time. The dark powers that he hated so much started to seep into his soul, Devimon flashed before his eyes. He was going to become something like that foul creature, he didn't ant to. With a feral cry he slammed his hands forward pushing the darkness out of his system. The digimon's energy returned to him fast, too fast. The energy flew through it's system making it jerk and fly through the air landing unconscious on the floor. Tk looked up shakily, his eyes landed on Ken and he felt the need to see if his friend was okay rise in him. He desperately tried to fight off the darkness that was trying to claim him, but he was too tired. And as he drifted off into the land of dreams he wondered what was to happen to them.

~*~

            Tai sighed as he held his digivice up to the computer. They had pretty much worked out that the pair had been in the digital world but Saka's words had confirmed it. However they hadn't been able to get to the Digital World for years, how come they could now? Tai wasn't even sure **if **they could get to the Digital World. The whole group was standing in front of the computer waiting for Izzy to finish with his laptop. The redhead stood up tucking his computer under his arm as he stretched out his digivice. Yolei frowned at the computer screen as she yelled out the commanding words, "Digiport open." There wasn't a reply, there screen stayed the same way.

"Told you so." Tai whispered under his breath, Matt turned to face Tai slightly. One blonde coloured eyebrow raised, the first smile since Tk went missing on his face. "Well we can't all be like you oh great master of the universe." Tai smiled brightly at this point, the real Matt was shining through the pain and fear for his younger brother. Then he snapped back to the ice cold Matt they had first met in the digital world. The mask went in place and he turned to glare at the others.

"What now you morons?" The younger digidestined backed away, fear clearly evident on their faces. The older ones however were used to Matt's glares and simply squirmed a bit before answering.

"Sit around and wait for Gennai to call us."

The glare that Matt sent Izzy made him back away clutching his laptop while the newer generation had turned and ran out the room.

~*~

            Tk slowly found himself coming back to conscious, the thumping in his head told him he needed an aspirin. He coughed and slowly brought his hands to his eyes and rubbed them with his fists. He groaned, wandering what Saka had put in his drink. Evil cousin that she was. Mind you it felt more like a drained kind of sick, then a everything in his body being on fire kind of sick. He froze when the images of yesterday soared through his mind.

"Ken!"

His eyes snapped open to meet with a huge pair of brown eyes surrounded by fur.

"Uh oh."


	4. Chapter Four: Fire in the Flat

Author's notes: I found them! (Maddie drags out her muses by the ears.) I'm sorry but they decided to go on vacation and forgot to in form me so I haven't been able to update. (Maddie glares at Tk, Matt, Tai and Kari who are all in holiday gear.)

_Italics _are the digidestined's thoughts. _Stupid blonde how dare she ruin our holiday. _(Maddie turns and glares at Tai who backs away before she uses her karate on him.)

It's a bit shorter than by other chapters but I promise I will update quickly with a longer chapter to make up for it. (Beams happily at everyone before turning on her muses who start to run for their lives.)

Disclaimer: First chapter if needed.

The Crests Within. Chapter Four.

            Tk cried out and pulled himself backwards away from the face hovering millimetres above his own. He suddenly fell backwards landing on the floor, "Ow." He looked up to see he had fallen off a sort of bed. It looked like something you would see at the doctors. A small furry head appeared over the edge, "You alright Tall One?"

"Er . . ." Tk stared at the digimon, it looked very much like a teddy bear, it had a red headdress (A strip of red cloth that had been tied round it's forehead) and a necklace with a feather on it round it's neck. It's huge brown eyes were locked onto Tk.

"Is you okay?"

"I'm fine er who are you?"

"Me Tediimon."

"Tediimon?" Tk asked as he sat up, brushing hair from his face as he scanned the room. They were in a small mud hut, and a second bed was beside his own which Ken was lying on. His eyes returned to the small digimon that had now scrambled off the bed to land beside Tk. "We live in middle of nowhere. No one bother us. We live 'lone. But find you out there. Take care of you Tall One. Where you from?"

"I'm from the human world, and what do you mean by Tall One?"

"We live here thousands of years. No see Tall digimon for so long, you very strange."

"I'm really strange?" Tk whispered to himself under his breath as the small digimon jumped up and down, patting his white tummy happily, glad that they were understanding each other.

"Where are we?"

"In village in ravine." Tk nodded, he was guessing the digimon meant their village was in a ravine. Glancing through the open door he guessed that they were still in the dried out area.

"How's my friend?"

"The other Tall One?" When Tk nodded the small digimon bounced over to the bed and carried on, "He be okay, very tired like you. But hit head." Tk nodded, Ken was slightly paler than usual and had a bandage wrapped round his head.

"Hungry Tall One?"

"Yeah but my name's Tk."

"Okay Tk Tall One." Tk pulled a face as he followed the small digimon outside.

Tk put a hand to his eyes as the wind whipped the sand around him. Squinting, he looked around, there were lots of huts like the one he had been in. He was in the centre of the village, the sand swirling around a huge well in the middle. The Tediimon scuttled across to the other side with Tk trailing him. He bent down slightly as he pushed a curtain aside and stepped into another hut. It was larger than the first and had two rooms, he could make out a stove in between all the smoke coming from one. While the one he was in had lots of table and benches which looked rather messy, wooden carved bowls and plates were scattered around.

"Kiko, guest woke up. Hungry." Tk concluded that the digimon appeared to like to talk in short sentences. But who or what was Kiko? A small light brown female Tediimon walked out. She was slightly taller then the first and wore a white apron over a reddish brown skirt and a red bandanna and a small leather bracelet on her wrist with two stones on it. She smiled and dusted her paws off.

"Takuji get food."  The small male Tediimon scampered off to the kitchen. Kiko ushered Tk to a table which he sat at, knocking his knees against the table top. "You have a name other then Tediimon?"

"Yes, Tediimon Tribe not like most digimon." Tk nodded, she was right they were more human than other digimon. Takuji came in carrying a bowl of what looked like a very leafy stew in one hand and a cup with some sort of red juice in the other. Picking up a wooden spoon, Tk dug in. The food was delicious though it tasted slightly _different _from something you'd find in the human world. Tk smiled up at Kiko who had been watching him intently as he eat and gently placed his spoon in his bowl. "That was wonderful, but where do you find the ingredients to go in it?"

"What mean?"

"We're in the middle of a desert where do you find the stuff to put in it?" Kiko smiled at Tk and shuffled out the hut, Tk blinked and followed. She wandered past the huts with Tk following though he nearly lost her a few times. His eyes were taking in the village, with the small mud or wooden huts with thatched roofs. The groups of Tediimon wandering the streets, the males wearing headdresses and feather necklaces, the Tediimon had a number of feathers on each they only seemed to go up to four on each though. The females wore bandanas, skirts and leather bracelets with a different number of greenish pebbles on it. Tk wandered what they symbolized but his thoughts were cut short when he came in front of a hill. Kiko was walking up it, Tk followed her up and his jaw dropped when he saw what was on top. It looked to be a small jungle, beautiful flowers of every colour climbed everywhere. Lush green plants were steadily reaching towards the sun.

"Wow, how come this is" He gestured wildly with his arms, "here?" She smiled up at Tk and opened her mouth to reply when Takuji came running up.

"Other Tall person wake up!" Tk smiled brightly and dashed down the hill, he needed to have a talk with Ken.

~*~

            "Matt what are we doing here?"

Matt ignored Yolei's question and carried on walking. Glaring at anyone who so much as dared to look in their direction. Tai smiled as he looked back at Yolei, "We're here to see if Tk and Ken left any clues when they went to the digital world."

"And to check on Saka." Tai rolled his eyes at the blonde, "And to see if Saka is okay. Though if she's as stubborn as her cousins you know she'll be fine." Matt spun round on his heel and glared at Tai, raising his fist. The brunette waved his hands in front of him, declaring surrender. "It was a compliment."

"Didn't sound like one to me." Matt growled as he resumed walking.

"He actually bought it." Tai whispered to himself, amazed.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

~*~

            "So we're in the middle of nowhere, with a group of small digimon who have their own super jungle and don't talk much?"

"Yep."

"What are we going to do?" Tk shrugged as he sat down on the end of Ken's bed. The boy he had seconds ago been talking to, started rubbing his head.

"Headache?"

"Just a small one." Ken mumbled sarcastically, "Shame they don't have aspirin. But it fades away after a while." Tk said happily. Ken rose an eyebrow at the boy's optimism, the mad creature. The only time he wasn't happy was when he was talking about his parent's divorce or something related and . . . the powers of darkness. Ken shuddered, it was his greatest fear that he would one day revert back to the cruel and uncaring genius he had once been. On occasions he would see what he had done in his dreams and would wake up nearly screaming. The only two that knew of this were Tk and Davis. A soft smile painted his lips as he thought of his best friends, they were rather different but both great. Davis knew exactly what to do to cheer him up and would always be accepting of his problems, Tk took a more understanding level to it. Always sharing his own problems with Ken and offering advice where he could. Rising his eyes he locked them on Tk's form, the blonde was now staring at the door. Ken followed his friend's gaze to see a group of Tediimon crossing the ground towards them. Tk smiled and stood up waving to the only female of the pack, who Ken guessed was Kiko. The small digimon smiled up at him before ushering five male Tediimon in. She stepped to the side and the five Tediimon were left to look Ken and Tk up and down. Two who looked to be a bit older than Kiko had five feathers on their necklaces. Tk had thought they had only gone up to four, the other thing was that they weren't wearing the same headdresses as the other males. Each headdress had a single grey feather sticking out the top, one had a dark red which matched well with his golden coloured fur while the other had a muddy brown headdress and rusty red fur. The next two looked nearly identical, both were pitch black in colour and had a white circle over their right eye. The real difference between them was that one was wearing a dark blue headdress and the other a sky blue bandanna. The female had a bracelet with five green stones on it. The final Tediimon in the room had grey fur that was tinged white from old age, it had a staff in one hand and a long necklace that hung past his stomach. His headdress was different, a pure white in colour with alternating grey and light brown feathers on it all the way round. The eldest Tediimon looked up with tired black eyes, he smiled slightly at Tk and Ken as he bowed his head in greeting.

"Welcome Tall ones. Me Bussho head shaman of Tediimon tribe." He gestured to the male black teddy bear, "Arata" next the female black one, "Ayano" the honey coloured Tediimon, "Shiki" the final digimon was introduced as "Ryoichi." Tk smiled at each in turn who nodded their heads back. "We shamen of tribe, predict omens, protect digimon, know medicines, run village. We need know who you are." Tk was about to reply when Takuji ran in, he nodded to the shamen repeatedly who were glaring at him for interrupting before he turned to Tk.

"Tk tall one here." He held a bowl of leafy stew and a spoon up at Tk, the blonde gave the Tediimon a slightly confused look. "For other Tall one." Tk nodded as he took the bowl. Starting when he realised Takuji's paws were incredibly close to his hand which now had a very ripped glove on. Pulling his hand away quickly he made a mental note to fix them later.

"Tk Tall One?" He turned to the head shaman and nodded, it looked like he was going to be called that from now on. Ken snickered behind his back and he turned to glare at his friend as he handed him the food.

"And you?" The leader said now looking at the violet haired boy.

"Ken."

"Ah, Ken Tall One." Ken pulled a face as the shaman smiled up at him. Tk smirked, it looked like their stay here was going to be interesting.

~*~

            Tai poked his head round the doorframe as he took in Tk's room. It was quite tidy, _mind you_ Tai thought,_ his mother's a tidy freak. _He stumbled forward when someone pushed him from behind. He turned and glared at Sora who smiled at him as she stepped in behind him. "Yolei and Davis are checking Ken's room." Tai nodded as he ran his eye's over Tk's chest. Even though he knew he was here for a good cause Tai felt like he was violating Tk's privacy. Kari was the same, there was something private and special about her room. A place where she went to think and be, to put it in a word, wise. She would simply sit on the bed, her les crossed and think. When he had asked her what about she had replied 'everything and nothing.' That had confused him like hell, but he knew it had something to do with Tk's and Kari's crests. They seem so much wiser than their age at times, as if they could see something in the battles that the others could not. Ken had it to, though not as strong as the other two. Davis had gotten so annoyed when Ken had vanished, Tai smirked at this point. Sora had always said that him and Matt combined were a bad combination. Davis, though he had his own personality was very much that, a boy with a few well known traits of Matt and Tai in him. Determination and a quick tongue or as Sora put it being a hothead and not knowing when to stop insulting people. And when it came to friends there was nothing more that Tai and Matt valued more, Davis was the same. And since Ken, his closest friend had just vanished he was being on the ruder side of the line.

"You stupid purple haired idiot, don't you ever listen."

"I do but only to people who actually have a brain."

"Are you saying I'm dumb?"

Tai sighed as he shook his head, the pair's annoyed yells running through the dorm.

 "Would you two shut up!" Tai chuckled to himself as Matt proceeded to lecture the pair before going back to comforting Saka who had come close to tears when she had seen them on the doorstep. Moving forward Tai glanced over the top of Tk's chest of draws. He and Sora poked around, looking in the closest, under the bed etc. Everything looked normal, as if Tk had simply gone out for the day. But he hadn't, the pair had to be in the digital world. There was no other explanation for their disappearance. Tai turned to leave when he spotted something poking out from underneath Tk's pillow. Walking over the brunette pulled out Tk's digivice and d-terminal. Tai frowned, it was an unwritten rule to never leave the house without your digivice. The threat had stopped long ago, but you never knew what might happen. They had stopped carrying them round the house but never left without them being at hand. Their digivices had almost become a good luck charm to the digidestined, having them near made them feel comfortable and safe. So Tk and Ken wouldn't have left without them or gone to the digital world because you wouldn't have anyone to protect you meaning . . .

"They were kidnapped."

"But by who? The apartment looks just fine, no one's broken in or anything." Tai didn't reply he simply turned round and walked back out to Matt who he handed the devices to. Davis and Yolei, both turned away from each other with arms crossed, were standing beside the blonde and Davis was holding Ken's digivice and d-terminal.

"Now what?"

~*~

            After talking to the shamen the pair had discovered the feather necklaces and bracelets symbolised how high they were in the tribe. One feather or stone meant you were a child. Two meant you were in training, a teenager in the human world. The third said you were an adult and would get certain privileges and so on. Four meant you were very good at what you did, and were an expert at your skill be it a warrior or cook. Five meant you were incredibly powerful and in the human world they would be the government. The people who run the village making sure everyone was alright and nothing was wrong. He and Ken were now sitting outside in the sun, a drink in their hands. The Tediimon had said that they could stay here until they were better. But even when they were better they didn't know how they were going to get anywhere. The Tediimon said that the next village was digimiles away, something they had discovered were bigger than normal miles. Kiko and Takuji who were brother and sister had offered for Tk and Ken to stay with them, the boys had agreed and were now sitting outside pondering their next move.

"We can't do anything can we?"

"Nope."

"Tk?"

"Yep."

"Does this mean leaf stew for the rest of our lives?" Tk turned to stare at Ken before he burst out laughing. Ken smiled as he turned back to look at the horizon, he had picked up a few things on how to make people smile from Davis. A slight frown marred his expression, he wondered how the maroon haired boy was.

~*~

"Whadaya mean go home?! I'm not going home until Ken is back. I will sit on his doorstep and wait for him to get back! I am not leaving!"

"Davis-"

"Don't Davis me Tai! I'm not going."

"Look we all want them back but sitting here will do you no good."

"And staying at home will? At least I know that I'm at least trying to find him!" Tai glared at the boy before him, he was beginning to get on his nerves. Matt was going to throw a fit in a second, his cheeks were turning slightly red from repressed anger. If Davis didn't shut up Matt was going to make him by knocking his teeth out.

"Oh Davis would you shut up!" All three boys turned to stare at Yolei. Tears were gathering in the purple haired girl's eyes. "We're all worried, Tk is Matt's brother and Ken means the world to all of us but there's nothing we can do! We can go home and try to find out where they've gone by contacting Gennai. Everyone misses them and . . and . . . ." Yolei trailed off as tears started running down her face. She had finally broken down, collapsing Yolei broke into sobs. She would have hit the ground if Sora hadn't stepped forward and caught her, pulling the girls closer she rocked her backwards and forwards. Davis watched with a pained expression as Yolei cried her heart out on Sora's shoulder.

"I'm . . I'm sorry Yolei." Two tear filled eyes stared at him, "I'll go home and talk to stupid old Gennai and see if he's got any information okay?" She smiled through her tears and nodded at him. _The pair had finally found an even ground_, Sora thought, _caring for Ken._

~*~

            Tk slowly opened his eyes and yawned as he got out of his bed and stood, stretching his arms above his head. He smirked at Ken's sleeping form before he yanked the boy's blanket off him. Ken cried out and curled into a tighter ball, mumbling something under his breath. "Saka go away."

"Thanks but I'm not a girl Ken, get up we need to go help Kiko." Pulling himself out of his bed Ken pulled his jacket on and followed Tk out the door. They had been here for two weeks now and had slowly fallen into a routine. They would get up help Kiko and Takuji collect ingredients before helping make food. They would then go and join the twin shaman, Arata and Ayano. Who they would spend the rest of their morning with helping to teach the younger children (The very small ones that had no feathers or stones, just plain necklaces and bracelets.) Afternoons would be spent alone on the outskirts of the jungle. This time was spent perfecting their abilities. They had gained them for a reason and so they were teaching themselves how to use them. Ken had improved, now being able to move quite big objects around without fainting. Along the way Tk had discovered that he had the ability to not just take the soul and emotions but to give it as well. He spent hours meditating, looking inside himself and his emotions. He had tuned them to the point where he could look at a person or digimon and see their emotions literally wafting around them. However their were slight problems, the higher or more powerful the digimon the harder it was to read. He could now also after determinating their mood, give them part of his emotions and make them feel better. So if they felt unhappy he could pass part of his happiness to them. Their discoveries took a lot out of them and they would spend their evenings listening to tales from the shaman.

Kiko and Takuji padded over to them. Tk and Ken smiled at the two Tediimon before following up the hill in silence. It was a comfortable silence that declared the trusted friendship between the individuals. Smiling to himself Tk thought that perhaps staying here wasn't as bad as they thought it was going to be.

~*~

            Tai frowned as he dropped the phone back into it's cradle. He lowered his head into his hands, fighting back the urge to scream. He had just spent half an hour consoling Sora on Tk's and Ken's disappearance. It had now been two weeks and the hope they once harboured on finding their friends was diminishing. They had stopped believing that it was going to be okay, that they would find them safe and sound. The only three that hadn't fallen into the pit of despair had been Kari, Matt and himself. Though he was now beginning to loose faith, with every passing day they could be killed and there was nothing they could do. He had managed to keep on track because of his position, team leader. If he couldn't stand strong then the rest couldn't. Tai frowned, sometime he hated his job. A knock on the door sounded, pulling himself away from the phone he opened the door to see Matt standing there.

"Hey Tai."

"Matt, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you Tai why else would I be here?"

Tai nodded slowly, and stepped back to let Matt in. The blonde gave Tai a small smile and followed him into the boy's bedroom. Tai dropped onto his bed while Matt pulled a chair out and sat backwards on it. "So seriously, why are you here?" Matt ignored Tai's question, allowing his eyes to wander across the room. "Matt!"

"I came to check on you." Tai pulled a face, his eyes fixed on Matt who couldn't meet his eyes. "What are you on about blondie?" Matt frowned, fixing his glare on his friend. "Look Tai I know people have been coming to you with their problems. They've been loading them all off on of you and I don't think you can take it."

"Excuse me? I am perfectly all right so don't you come here telling me that I'm not when-"

"Tai I'm just worried about you. I know you're scared for Tk and Ken too but I don't see you complaining."

"I'm perfectly all right, there is no need to worry do you hear me? No need!" He stood up, hands balled into fists as he glared down at his friend.

"So what if people cry on my shoulder hours on end and I have to spend ages making sure they're alright! So what if I have to keep my grief inside while they add to the weight by coming and moaning to me and . . and . . " Matt was looking up at Tai coolly, not caring that the boy was waving his hands around angrily or yelling at the top of his voice at him. "And what if Tk and Ken are dead and it's all my fault because I didn't try hard enough to save them. Because they were pulled into another stupid dimension by some stupid digimon! Stupid stupid stupid **stupid** digimon."

            Matt would later say that he was sure that Tai's hands had flashed a light red before the curtains caught on fire. One second they were standing there the next the room was half alight. The smoke spilling across the room as the fire spread from the curtains to the cupboard in a matter of seconds. Matt slammed a hand across his mouth staggering backwards as he tried desperately not to breath in the smoke. He looked up at Tai who had a rather dazed look on his face. The boy was standing in the middle of the room, arms still spread out wide.

"Tai come on." Matt chocked out as fear rose in him. What was wrong with Tai? The brunette seemed to come to his senses but as he did all his energy left him. His knees were shaking and sweat pouring down his face as he tried to move towards Matt and the door. There was a crackling and snapping sound and part of the ceiling gave way. Tai managed to move back in time to not get caught underneath the debris. But the momentum and sudden lack of energy caught him off caught. He stumbled backwards before he collapsed by the side of the bed, consciousness trying to leave him as the bed caught on fire. The flames seemed to swirl above him, coming closer and closer. Not daring to look Tai closed his eyes and waited for the end.

_To Be Continued . . .****_

**The Tediimon are my own creation, the Japanese name of Teddy Bear with an added mon on the end. If you want to use them (though I doubt that you will) please ask for permission seeing as I love my Teddy Digimon.**


	5. Chpater Five: Greetings and partings

Author's notes: I left you in a bit of suspense in the last chapter! (smiles evilly while Sora comes up behind her and whacks her over the head. "You can't hurt my Tai!") Go read to find out what happened ( MadMaddie runs away with Sora chasing her, screaming out curses.) Sorry for the late update! Damn Writer's block!

Once again _Italics _are Digidestined's thoughts.

_'This' _is telepathic speech.

Disclaimer: On first Chapter.

The Crests Within. Chapter Five.

            _This is it. I shall die in my own home, not saving the digital world from disaster. Odd I never pictured it like this._ Tai opened his eyes, determined to face his death with courage. "Tai!" A sudden blast of icy air swept across the room blowing the flames away from his friend. The blast got stronger, a thin layer of ice slowly appearing on every object in the room as the fire was wiped out. Tai, covered with a light frost, shakily pulled himself up onto his knees. Matt was standing by the door arms out stretched and shaking.

"What just happened?" Matt didn't answer, his mouth was open slightly as he stared at the charred and frozen remains of Tai's bedroom.

"I haven't a clue but I think we should go tell Izzy."

~*~

            _A greenish blur of trees and plants before he was in the swirling mist of gold that was his very core. Pushing himself further he sought out his hope. The very material that held the fabric of his soul together. It was shinning brightly within, shining to the point where it was hurting him. Telling him that something was happening, something beyond the digital world. He frowned, something was happening in the human world. A flash of golden hair and blue eyes _Matt . . ._ spiky brown hair and chocolate eyes _Tai . . ._ Then the red hot feeling of fear and bitter taste of pain echoed within him. But not his, someone else's, Matt and Tai's._ And suddenly he was jerked back into the digital dimension, he looked up to see Ken's face hovering above his own. The violet haired boy stopped shaking his friend and sat down in front of him, "What happened?"

"I dunno, it was Matt and Tai. They were back home but I don't get it, something bad **and** good was happening. I really can't explain it." Ken cocked an eyebrow at the blonde but didn't say anything, their abilities were very hard to understand. Tk's especially. The blonde groaned and sunk his face into his hands, _this just isn't fair._

"What part of it is?"

"Huh?" Tk said in a confused voice as Ken turned to look at him. "You said that 'this wasn't fair' and I said 'what part of it is?'"

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did I heard you."

"No, I thought that I didn't say it." Ken gave Tk a bewildered look before putting his hand to the blonde's forehead. "Are you feeling alright? Did you use too much energy looking inside you?"

"No I'm fine I  just . ." He paused thinking about what he had said and shook his head, "Okay maybe you're right. I think I'm just gonna stay here and relax."

"That might be a good idea." Ken said as he watched the blonde stretch out in the sun, they had finished helping the twin shaman with the children a while ago and had been practising their abilities when they had both felt a sudden jolt inside them. As if something was wrong, Tk had gone inside his soul (something Ken guessed came with his ability) the blonde had found little but enough to make both uneasy. What was going on back in Japan? They didn't know in slightest, there was no digimon to help explain why they had been taken here and not the others. No friends to help ease their worries at night. Ken sighed and flopped down beside Tk, the only people that could help them now where themselves.

~*~

            Izzy sighed as he bent over his laptop typing out an e-mail to Gennai. He looked up at Matt and Tai, whose burns were being treated by Joe. The two had rung up babbling something about a fire in the Kamiya's apartment. The rest of the team had been called and they were now sitting in the living room after examining Tai's bedroom. Izzy sighed and pressed send as he looked everyone over, the worry for Tk and Ken was getting to them all. Yolei and Davis had bonded over their worry for Ken, the purple haired girl now leaning on Davis's shoulder, her eyes staring blankly ahead. Cody had been taking his frustrations out in Kendo, the worry however clouded his judgement. Which explained the bruises covering his arms from where his grandfather had won their fights. Sora had done the same thing, spending hours playing tennis until she nearly collapsed. Joe had buried himself in his work, hoping to drive the fear away. It had seemed the most logical solution and he to had done the same thing. Tai and Matt had held onto the fact that Tk and Ken wouldn't give up so neither could they, which had until Tai's apartment caught on fire, been working. Kari had been hit the hardest of them all, she had received no more visions but nightmares of what could happen had plagued her dreams. Leaving her with bags under her eyes, a startling black against her now pale skin. The girl in question sighed as she curled up in a tighter ball on the sofa, she had never given up before but somehow Izzy had the odd feeling that most of Kari's hope came from Tk. And with him gone she had no one to look to, it was the same with Yolei. The purple haired girl had needed her weekly phone calls from Ken and with him gone her world had fallen apart. Izzy didn't expect Gennai to return their e-mail, he hadn't the last one which had been more important than Tai and Kari's apartment mysteriously catching on fire. So he was surprised when five minutes later Tai's computer beeped, crowding round it they opened the e-mail up. And with a flash of light all ten digidestined vanished.

~*~

            Tk stared at the head shaman, looking as if he was listening though his mind was in another place completely. _Bored, bored and bored. His stories are usually quite interesting but not tonight. _

_I agree completely._

Tk started when he realised he had just heard Ken's voice in his head. _Okay so maybe I wasn't loosing it earlier._ Tk thought to himself as he turned to look at Ken who had an equally startled face. They both snapped back to Bussho and carried on pretending to listen, though they were really turning over what just happened in their minds.

            Tk struck the flint, lighting the candle. Placing it beside his bed he looked over at Ken in the dim light. After listening to Bussho's stories Kiko had ushered them to bed and blown the candle out. After waiting for quiet to settle the pair had quickly sat up and gotten ready to talk.

"Okay what happened?"

"I think we talked through our minds seeing as I definitely didn't say I was bored out loud."

"Should we see if it will work again?" Tk nodded and closed his eyes, '_Ken can you hear me?'_

_'Yep, this is amazing!'_

_'No kidding'_

_'Next time we have a test I am **so **gonna be asking you for the answers.' _Tk's laughter filled Ken's head, smiling at his friend the violet haired boy said a goodnight before blowing out the candle and snuggling down to sleep. _Perhaps their powers weren't so bad after all._

~*~

            Tai slowly opened his eyes, groaned and closed them again. _Why did the sun have to be so bright?_ He felt something poke him in the side, he swatted it and rolled over onto his side and yelped. Sitting up he rubbed his side which was painful, looking down he realised he had rolled onto a patch of thistles. _Hold on, thistles? _Looking round he realised he was on a moor, eight digidestined scattered around him. He groaned and rubbed his back which was sore from sleeping on the hard ground and a bunch of rocks. _Ah, the wonders of sleeping in the digital world. _Tai thought to himself sarcastically, he started when someone tugged his t-shirt. Yelping he turned round to see Cody sitting there, looking at him. The younger boy smiled up at him, "I thought I should wake you first." He whispered, Tai nodded and thanked him before ordering Cody to try and wake some of the others. Stumbling over to Matt he proceeded to shake him until he woke up, this of course resulted in Tai being thrown onto his backside when Matt punched him.

"Don't ever wake me up like that again." He said as he pulled himself up and went to wake Joe up. Tai rolled his eyes muttering something about stupid blondes under his breath as he went to get Sora up.

            Ten minutes later and everyone was awake and moving out. Well nearly everyone.

"Nap time." Mimi mumbled as she snuggled closer to Matt's back, the blonde was carrying her piggyback style as they trudged through the forest.

"I don't believe this!"

"What is it Davis?" Sora asked in a tired voice as she leaned on Tai's shoulder.

"Where are our digimon?"

"We don't know, if we did I'm sure we'd be finding them."

"Sorry, It's just that if the digimon were here we'd be able to find Ken and Tk easier. I'm really worried."

"We all are Davis there's nothing to apologise for." Sora said from her position against Tai. They continued to walk in silence, pushing past the trees as they dragged their legs through the tall grass. A quiet snapping sound rang through the air to Tai's right, the brunette turned frowning as he regarded the trees. _Nothing. _Five minutes later there was a rustling, like someone accidentally brushing past a pile of dried leaves. _Stop it! It's your imagination._ He told that to himself again when he heard a crunching sound above him. Twisting his neck up, he peered into the dense canopy above them. "What is it Tai?" Sora asked as she tugged on his sleeve, her tired hazel eyes staring into his own. "I don't know." She rose an eyebrow to tired to ask what he meant. "I think we're being followed." He whispered in her ear as he stared ahead, burying her face in the crook of his neck she replied even quieter, "What do we do?" Tai paused chewing his lip, then tightening his arm around her waist he sped up. Matt frowned at Tai's sudden change in pace but decided not to ask. He paused, straining his senses, until he too heard the occasional rustle of someone treading through the forest alongside them. Hopefully the others would be smart enough to realise not to ask, Matt thought as he walked faster. Quickly catching up with Tai and Sora, he could hear the others following just behind them. The rustles on the side of them grew quicker and more frequent as they sped up. Mimi had woken up, her hands clutching his shirt tightly as they continued to walk. Seconds later she slid off his back and carried on walking beside him as their pace quickened. There was a loud cracking sound from the left and branch came toppling down from the trees above. "Run!" Tai ordered and the digidestined sprang forward, pushing past the branches and leaping through the grass as they darted forward. They could hear an assortment of grunts as they were followed through the forest. Breaking out into rolling hills as far as they could see, they continued to run. Their feet pounding on the short grass as they ran for their lives. The babbling noise of digimon got louder and Mimi gave a short cry as she saw a group of at least thirty digimon heading their way. It was matter of seconds before all ten digidestined were standing back to back, completely surrounded. Their were Drimogemon, Gekomon, Otamamon and many other digimon they had met before surrounding them.The odd thing was that they looked slightly crazy. Their eyes were bulging and their tongues lolling out their mouths, and they all seemed dimmer. As if the colour had been drained from them, leaving them darker than usual.

"They're everywhere!" Mimi cried out as she backed away, all the digidestined now forced into a circle.

"How are we going to get out of this?" Yolei asked as Davis as she pulled her hands into a fist. A low thumping met the maroon haired boy's ears and he turned his head slightly.

"I don't know. But whatever you do, don't look to your right." Sadly enough Yolei didn't listen, the girl looked over her shoulder and winced. A huge troll like digimon was making it's way over with another band of smaller digimon.

"Wonderful, we are surrounded by crazed Digimon that are intent on killing us and a great big ugly thing is now stomping over to crush us with it's feet. Absolutely perfect."

"Don't you mean Perfecto?"

~*~

            Tk sighed as he ran a hand through his messy blonde hair, he shouldered his backpack as he stared into the distance. He glanced over at his companion, Ken was peering at the map the Tediimon had given him. It wasn't a very good map, it only went as far as the next village but that was all they needed. The feelings Tk had experienced about Matt and Tai had worried them, add the fact that they could now talk thorough their minds left the pair thoroughly confused. After discussing their situation they had come to the conclusion that they needed to find out what was going on. Gennai was the only one that would know. So they had told the Tediimon of their idea, the digimon had been accepting of it. Kiko had packed food and other supplies for them as well as handing them a map and they had left that morning. Now halfway through the day they were still in the middle of nowhere. Another sigh escaped the blonde's lips as he turned to face his friend. "Shall we stop for food?"

"Sure, I need to work out where we are anyway. This map is confusing, everything looks the same!"

"Come now Ken, a smart genius like yourself should be able to work out how to use a map." Tk said teasingly as he pulled out some sort of Tediimon sandwich. Ken glared at his friend before taking a swig of water from his water bottle as he looked the map over.

_'Worried?' _Tk snapped out of his thoughts as he looked at Ken, he nodded as he toyed with his gloves.

_'So many things could have happened to them, we may be too late to do anything.'_

_'This is Matt and Tai we're talking about, you know the pair better than I do and **I **know that they can always get themselves out of trouble.'_

_'Technically we're not talking.'_

_'Oh, be quiet.' _Tk smiled as he shoved the remainder of his sandwich in his bag and stood up.

"Shall we?"

"Let's, I want to get to the village before nightfall."

~*~

            "So what are the plans?" Joe asked as he took another step back to avoid being bitten. "Not a clue." Tai replied as he sent a kick on a digimon that was getting to close for comfort. It rolled over and sat there clutching it's head. It was then that out of the corner of his eye he noticed a Drimogemon moving towards Sora. "Sora, look out!" But it was too late, there was no where for her to move to without putting someone else in danger. If she moved right Joe would be in the line of fire and left Izzy would be, so she stayed still. "NO!" Tai's hands flung out, a red glow emitting from them as a burst of fire slammed into the digimon diving for Sora. The digimon flew high over the moor and back into the forest, it's fur on fire. Tai froze with shock for a second before he turned to face Matt. His shocked expression slowly faded into a smirk as he eyed his friend. The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle seeming to fit into place.

"Ya think we can fend them off with these powers?"

"I think so." Matt replied, the two stood shoulder to shoulder and raised their arms. The digimon had seemed to realise that the pair were the real danger and moved forward to annihilate them but the boys got there first. A jet of fire and ice leapt forward throwing the digimon backwards either frozen or on fire. The two slowly turned their arms round spraying each digimon with the two elements. The group of digimon either unconscious, deleted or in a great deal of pain decided to back off. Turning tail they ran dragging their fainted friends with them.

"T . . Tai what did you two just do?"

"No idea." The brunette said to Sora before he fainted.

~*~

            Tk started and sat bolt upright, shaking slightly as he tugged his blanket closer. A barrage of emotions, that he was positive weren't his, had flashed before his eyes as he slept. Something to do with fire and . . . ice? He shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his mind as he sat there. He lay back down and closed his eyes trying to get back to sleep. He and Ken hadn't reached the next village as they had hoped and were spending the night in a dried out moor wrapped in a couple of blankets. Burrowing under the blankets he tried to sleep, but his mind wasn't co-operating and all calm thoughts had fled him.

_'What's up?'_

_'The sky.'_

_'Tk, I'm serious.' _Ken's eyes peeked over the edge of his blanket as he stared at the blonde who had come to the surface to glare at his friend.

_'I felt their presence again.'_

_'Does that mean that something bad is happening?'_ Tk shrugged and stared up at the sky, the stars twinkling merrily at him. _'I don't know Ken. The sooner we get to Gennai's the better.'_

~*~

            Tai groggily opened his eyes, slowly focusing them on the fire that flickered before him. Squinting slightly he could make out a group of dark lumps on the other inside of the fire. _My friends. _He looked to the right seeing Joe silhouetted against the moon, standing watch. Rolling onto his back he could see Matt beside him. No one else was near them, a frown furrowed his forehead. Leaning over he poked the blonde in the side, Matt groaned and batted Tai's hand away. Glaring slightly the brunette continued to poke his friend until Matt's eyes fluttered open and he turned to look at Tai.

"I hurt all over Taichi Kamiya, you better have a good reason for waking me up." Matt growled as he sat up. "Shhh, you might wake the others." The blonde looked over the group before turning his eyes back to his best friend. "Explain."

"I think they're scared of us."

"Come on Tai! You have to be kidding."

"I'm being deadly serious. Usually if one of us is hurt the rest will go out of their way to make sure they're comfortable. Add to the fact that since our first trip to the digital world us two and Sora have been inseparable. Like the time we caught the flu when we were twelve and she stayed with us. Taking care of us until she also got sick. She wouldn't leave us then why now when we only fainted?" Matt didn't reply, he couldn't. He didn't have an answer to his friend's question. Sighing the blonde settled himself back down, "Whatever the reason I'm sure we can talk it through. Now go to sleep. You know I get grumpy in the morning if I don't get any sleep." Tai chuckled to himself as he lay down beside his friend. Matt words had soothed his worries, however they weren't banished. A jolt of fear passed through him as he lay down. _What if they couldn't talk it out?_

~*~

            Tk smiled and nodded at the digimon who was chattering to him happily, the small Yokomon along with other groups of in-training digimon lived in a huge village run by a few champions. He smiled and nodded wondering when the digimon was actually going to give them some food. He shifted his foot and continued to nod as the small Yokomon continued to babble.

_'Getting bored?'_

_'She's worse than Bussho.'_

_'Didn't think that was possible, poor you.'_

_'Get your butt over here Ichijouji, I'm not facing this horror alone.'_ Ken smiled to himself as he continued to look into the horizon. They had gotten here half an hour ago and had so far gotten no where. The village was situated a digimile or so after the grass started to go back to green again. They were placed in the middle of a large hill, that way they could see any approaching digimon. Or in their case people. The Yokomon had seen the two coming and had decided to greet them. Tk had asked if there was a place to get food and find a map and the digimon hadn't stopped chatting since. Ken ignored Tk's annoyed yells that ran through his head and continued to take in his surroundings. He was surprised when Tk's voice faded out, even more surprised to see Tk's and the Yokomon's retreating backs.

_'Hey!' _He yelled in the blonde's mind as he ran after him, Tk smirked and ignored his friend as he caught up. _'That should teach you to ignore me.'_ Glaring at his friend Ken followed them into the heart of the village.

~*~

            Matt slowly opened his eyes, yelping when he saw a pair of big hazel eyes peering into his own. The owner of said pair of eyes also cried out and moved away, startled. Resulting in her landing on her behind.

"Sorry Meems." Matt said, sitting up and extending a hand towards her. The girl looked up at him from behind her hair.

"Th . . . that's okay." But she didn't grab his arm, Matt frowned slightly. And gestured again for her to take his hand, surprisingly she grabbed his wrist to help her up. After pulling Mimi to her feet, Matt gave her an odd look.

"Why wouldn't you take my hand?"

"Well, I . . . it's just . . ." Mimi mumbled, squirming as she refused to meet his eyes.

"You're scared." Most people wouldn't be able to detect the hurt in Matt's voice, mind you Mimi wasn't most people. "I'm sorry!" She wailed out as Matt turned to walk away, "It's not you I'm afraid of it's just your powers." Matt cocked an eyebrow at her. "You and Tai nearly burnt down the apartment by accident. You might hurt anyone of us without meaning to and I just kinda don't wanna get hurt. You understand right?" Matt nodded as he tried to move away again, only to find that Mimi had thrown her arms around his waist. Her face pressed firmly into his back. "Don't walk away Matt. Just explain to us what happened." The blonde nodded, turning to face Mimi. He flashed her a rare smile, one usually reserved for Tk. Or perhaps Tai if he had done something super nice or was actually being mature. Mimi separated from Matt and jumped up down, clapping her hands happily.

            An hour later after a breakfast of berries and a chat with Tai and Matt the digidestined were sitting down, thinking. "I think Gennai knows what's going on." Sora looked up from her place on the ground at Izzy. "What?"

"Gennai didn't so much as bother talking to us until he found out what Tai and Matt had done."

"He didn't exactly talk to us." Sora said, her eyes reverting back to the clouds.

"No, but the point is that he obviously realised what was going on and decided to bring us here."

"Do you think Ken and Tk are with him?" Izzy looked at Matt, who was sitting there a pained look on his usually icy face. "It's a possibility." Joe said, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "They might have experienced the same sort of powers themselves and told Gennai, he could have then pulled them to the digital world."

"But why wouldn't they tell us?" Yolei asked, wrapping a strand of hair round her finger and tugging it.

"Maybe they were like us." Tai's words, though few, meant a lot. They had all noticed the way Matt and Tai had fidgeted when talking to them. Absolutely terrified at what their friends were going to say to their abnormalities. They stopped worrying however when Mimi and Sora hugged them, before proceeding to tell them off for not realising something sooner.

"Perhaps but let's hope they're alright and they actually did manage to get to Gennai's."

~*~

            "They will see you soon."

"Who's they?" Ken asked looking at the Yokomon jumping about at their feet. The digimon had taken them over to one of the main buildings, which had surprisingly been several stories high. Not to mention the fact that the doorway was huge. Perhaps that was for the champion digimon. But not many were that big.

"They? They?! They are the two that started this village off! Once great rivals and now the best of friends. Though they argue a lot. The pair of fought many battles including that with the first digidestined." Tk started at this point but the digimon didn't notice. It continued to blabber on about how they had created the village because of all those weak and innocent that were killed by the DarkMasters. Then onto how they actually built the village. Tk tuned it all out.

_'Tk? Do you know who he's talking about?'_

"Really Yokomon, what is it?" A broad smile made it's way across Tk's face as he slowly turned round to face the creators of the village.

_'Yes, yes I do.'_

"Leomon!"

_To Be Continued . . ._

I love the friendships between some of the boy's mainly Tai and Matt, Davis and Ken, though friendship between Tk, Ken and Davis is by far the best though you don't see much of that. Oh, and if anyone's wondering about Kari's dream it's coming up later. ;) Lot's more torture for our poor heroes and heroines.

**Character Guide.**

**Bussho: Head shaman of the Tediimon tribe.**

**A****rata: Shaman of the Tediimon tribe, twin brother to Ayano. (Teacher to very young Tediimon.)**

**Ayano: Only female shaman of the Tediimon tribe, twin sister to Arata. (Teacher to young children.)**

**Shiki: Shaman of the Tediimon tribe.**

**Ryoichi: Shaman of the Tediimon tribe.**

**Takuji: A child, little brother to Kiko.**

**Kiko: Cook in training, older sister to Takuji**.****


	6. Chapter Six: Of Frights and Flights

Author's notes: I just realised how huge this is going to be. And how long it's going to take me to finish it! But I will do so, as long as I don't get another case of writer's block.

Tai: Dear God, save us!

Don't be mean and when did you get here?

Tai: I came to tell you to be nicer to everyone.

But the people like seeing you get hurt!

Tai: *Sweat drops*

Anyway, I'm sorry for not updating in a while. But I've been on holiday for two weeks. But I will update as soon as possible.

_'Words' _like that are telepathic thoughts! Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: First chapter.

The Crests Within. Chapter Six.

            "Tk?" The blonde nodded and laughed as the huge lion digimon looked down on him. "Little Tk that had a habit of looking way to cute for his own good?"

"Get over it kitty kat, of course it's him." Leomon turned to glare at his companion, who was shooting Tk a toothy smile. "How's it going Ogremon?"

"How'd you think when you're taking care of hundreds of little kiddie In-training digimon?"

"Lots of work?"

"Just a bit." Ogremon nodded, gently resting his club on the floor. "How come you're taking care of them? I thought Elecmon took care of newly born digimon?"

"He does, but there's only one of him and so many of those young digimon that it was getting a bit too much for the more digimon to handle. So we offered to take care of the In-Training digimon for him. So once they evolved from fresh he sends them here." Tk nodded and then smiled sheepishly when Leomon's eyes landed on Ken questioningly.

"Oops, forgot my manners. This is Ken, one of the new digidestined. And Ken this is Leomon and Ogremon. Friends of ours from our first trip."

"Pleasure to meet you." Ken said, bowing at the two champions. Leomon nodded at the respect the boy was showing. Good manners, good person or that's what he thought.

"Ha, you're a lot nicer than those other brats! They attacked me when we first met." Ogremon was just an exception. Really, he didn't usually befriend mad insulting digimon. Honest.

"I have to point out that you attacked us first." Tk commented, one golden eyebrow raised as if daring the digimon to try and defend himself. He defiantly took it.

"Well, you little-"

"Ogremon please, be nice we have guests."

"You call him" He pointed at Tk with his club. "A guest?"

"Yes and if you don't then you at least have to count Ken as one." The digimon grumbled to himself as Leomon gestured for Tk and Ken to follow him. Things were looking up if the digidestined were back.

            Tk smiled as he leaned back into the comfy armchair, relaxing completely. Something he hadn't done in a while, even when he was with the Tediimon. He glanced over at Ken who was looking slightly nervous, mind you he always was. The boy had never completely forgiven himself for what he had done to the digital world or Wormmon. The blonde turned his eyes back to the two digimon sitting in front of him.

"Do you guys know what's going on?" Leomon looked thoughtful for a moment before he started.

"There is evil around, that is for certain. What it is however, we do not know. There have recently been a lot of digimon deletions, the village has never been this full before. Something is out there killing them for some reason or other. Others disappear completely. A tribe, much like the ones you said you'd been with on your way down, have vanished all together. We have had no word from them in months and the area they usually occupy has been empty for the same amount of time."

A frown crossed Tk's face, this was worse than he thought. "Anything else?" Ogremon nodded and took over.

"We got a message from Gennai a few months back saying that he had discovered some sort of prophecy in a cave. Very much like yours, it was written in ancient digicode on a stone slate. He said he hadn't been able to decipher all of it yet, in fact he could only figure out a few words. But it had something to do with a great war. We think he tried to get in contact with us again a month later but the transmission didn't work."

"In fact come to think of it a lot of the communication systems have been down for a while. It's as if someone's interfering with everything that we try to do."

"Do you think that's why we're here?" Three pairs of eyes looked over at Ken, all confused. "I think Gennai tried to bring us to him, to his house. But whatever's been interfering with the system obviously tried to stop him."

"Nothing can stop the bringing of the chosen to this world." Leomon said, "It is a call for help and will always be obeyed even if said chosen to not want to come."

"Yeah but what if they **knew** that? And instead of stopping it, sent us to a different place instead? Then tried to kill us before we could find our digimon and help out." Ogremon swore under his breath, a serious look on his face. That in itself was rather odd, the digimon Tk had known was hardly ever serious even when facing Piedmon. He had only gotten a little bit more sober. Apparently the disappearances were taking it's toll on the digimon and his friend.

"What do we do?"  Tk asked quietly, turning his gaze to look out the huge window. "You shall stay with us for a few days and then . . ."

"And then?"

"And then we shall get down to business."

~*~

            It had now been five days since the ten digidestined had landed in the Digital World and after their first meeting with the rather whacked out digimon they had seen no one. Wandering around the deserted moors for the past three days before entering a rather dense and hot jungle. And apparently the heat was getting to some people.

"Where is everyone?!"

"If I knew Davis, we'd be talking to them." Yolei yelled back, hands on hip.

"I think Matt's found them." Cody said with a small smile, tilting his head to the side where the blonde was bowing to mid-air. "The great and wonderful Digidestined at your service. Please no need for screaming." He said shaking hands with a supposedly invisible digimon.

"Matt, please stop bowing at imaginary Digimon or I might have to get you to a mental home." Sora said dryly as she overtook the blonde and started to climb a steep hill.

 "Didn't know there were any of those in the digital world." Matt mused, a hand stroking his chin sarcastically. 

 "If they had them, they would be full. You know how most digimon around here are crazy." Tai said, patting the blonde's back. Matt laughed and tossed an arm over his friend's shoulder. "You bet ya. So you see Sora, you can't throw be in a mental home."

"I'll put you in one when we get back." Sora declared as the two joined her on top of the hill. "Not if we throw you in one first." Tai said teasingly, wagging a finger at her. She laughed and knocked his hand away. "Alright you two, you've cheered everyone up so can you now tell us where to go?" Tai smiled at her and nodded, looking at the forest below them that seemed to go on forever. "Bugger, we're not going to get out of here quickly are we?"

"Not a chance." Matt said a smile on his face. "But that the whole part of being a digidestined. Getting lost, being attacked and nearly killed all the time." Sora rolled her eyes, they had certainly recovered from their whole new abilities ordeal and were back to being normal. That meant annoying, loud and over confident. She told them this, which is why she ended up running down the other side of the hill with Tai and Matt chasing her.

            After Tai and Matt had finished with Sora. (The pair had tried to throw her in a nearby lake but Joe had stopped them saying her clothes would get wet and she didn't have another pair. So they had opted for just hitting her over the head.) The group had continued walking until they stopped for lunch. (A lovely meal of berries, berries and berries!)

"This place looks oddly familiar." Izzy looked up at Tai was looking at the canopy of the forest with a glare. As if trying to get it to tell him where they had met before.

"Well it's been a few years since we last visited the digital world, it might have grown a lot since the last time we came. It may even be a forest we saw first time we came here."

"We saw a lot of forests when we came here first time Izzy." Sora pointed out as she popped a berry in her mouth. "Well then why don't you figure which forest we're in while I go back to my laptop." Tai chuckled as Izzy reverted back to typing furiously, the redhead seemed determined to be quick. He didn't want to waste his battery, so he hated people interrupting him when he was on his laptop. Rolling his eyes he looked over at the younger digidestined who were having a slightly harder time adjusting to being in the digital word all the time. As harsh as it sounded, they would just have to get used to it. His eyes then landed on his sister and they softened. Kari had hardly talked since she had gotten here, her worry for Tk and Ken mounting everyday. Tk especially. The two had a strong bond, which Tai would happily admit, so the pair parting had been very hard on Kari. Light and Hope were truly connected and without her Hope he didn't know how long Kari could last. He hoped wherever Tk was he was doing better. A sudden crashing caught the digidestined's attention. The first seven hadn't spent months in the digital world to not learn anything. They had picked their camp well, equipped with excellent hiding places. Which they dived into at this point. A feathered bird like digimon was leading a pack of what appeared to be In-Training digimon to through the forest. They passed through the digidestined's camp without noticing them. A few minutes later, the sound of feet crushing leave grew quieter and the ten crawled out.

"Do you think we should follow them?" Davis asked looked at the elders for permission.

"Well, they did look like they knew where they were going."

"And even if we don't tell them that we're there they will still lead us out of the forest."

"So what are we waiting for?" Tai demanded as he quickly slipped into the foliage as he went after the group.

~*~

            Tk tossed and turned in his bed, pulling the covers right over his head then pulling them back down again. An overwhelming coldness had encased his heart, leaving him feeling as if part of his soul was missing. He knew what it was, he had felt it growing steadily stronger those three long years he had been separated from her, when he and Ken had gone to live in Binshou. The pain of separation was growing much stronger now, maybe it was because they were in different dimensions or he had never gone so long without calling her. He closed his eyes tightly, it had lessened about five days ago. Maybe the other digidestined were back in the digital world. He prayed that they were and that they would meet up again soon. Perhaps on the trip they were going on tomorrow after Leomon and Ogremon had welcomed the new In-Training digimon to the village. The two digimon where then going to take Ken and Tk to Gennai's house. They didn't trust anyone else enough to take care of two of the chosen for so long, so they were doing the job themselves.

"Tk?" The blonde rolled over to see Ken standing by his bed. "You okay?" Tk shook his head and Ken sat down beside the blonde. He didn't ask, he already knew what was troubling his friend. Ken had forced the information about Tk's sleepless nights two years ago. He couldn't say anything that would fix the pain Tk was feeling, he just had to be there and give the boy support to make him feel better. Sitting up, Tk leaned against Ken's shoulder as the boy's arm came round to hug the blonde. He clung to Ken tightly, simply accepting the help he so desperately needed. They sat like that into the early morning where they fell asleep to the birds singing their morning song.

            "Up! We have to get going now!" Tk groaned and opened an eye, pulling away from Ken where they had fallen asleep against the headboard. "What? You said we could sleep in." The blonde muttered as he buried his head in his pillow. "I know but the In-Training digimon were supposed to arrive early this morning. They may have been attacked and I don't intend on losing digimon that small. Get up we're going to see what's going on." Groaning, Tk pulled himself out of bed and climbed to his feet.

"Get Ken up." Tk nodded as Leomon left the room. Smiling, now he was slightly more awake, the boy grabbed a pillow and proceeded to hit Ken with it. A lot. The violet haired boy's reply to this action was to do what he did every time Tk woke him up like this. He tackled him. The two landed on the floor and Ken snatched the pillow, tossing it to the side.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"

"We have to get up, Leomon thinks that the In-Training digimon have been attacked. We're going to save them."

"Oh."

"Oh, indeed now get off me!"

~*~

            "Hey, do you know why Gennai stopped talking to us?"

"Huh? What you on bout Tai?" Matt asked wearily, they had been trailing the digimon for most of the night and appeared to be reaching the end of the forest as the trees were thinning out.

"Well, I mean he was going on about this huge war that was going to come along and how he needed us to fight in it. Why the sudden stop in e-mails?"

"Well, he once mentioned something about other warriors and when I questioned him on it he just acted as if he hadn't said anything. My belief is that there are some sort of other fighters that he believed to help this fight better than we could."

"Yeah but why not just tell that to our faces?" Mimi asked, stomping her foot on he ground for emphasis.

"I don't know! You try to unravel the mysteries of man that can be a 100 years old one year and 20 years old the next! I don't get him and I doubt I ever will."

"Shhhhhh." Sora said, glaring at Izzy and Mimi with a finger to her lips. "We can't alert the digimon to our presence." Nodding Mimi and Izzy quietened down and continued to walk.

            It was ten minutes later that the In-Training digimon left the forest and paused suddenly. "What's the matter with them?" Mimi asked from her place, crouched in the bushes. Matt shook his head, indicating he didn't know. But they soon found out. A group of digimon ran forward suddenly, charging at the pretty much defenceless In-Trainings. It was the same group as yesterday, they discovered, when a Drimogemon deleted one of the small digimon with a pained squeal. "They've gone bloody psycho." Mimi hissed as another digimon was deleted. A small sob welled up in Sora's throat as they looked upon the about to be massacre. Fury fed Tai's heart as he looked upon Sora's face. This was properly the reason for his next, very stupid (As Mimi screamed at him later) act.

"Hey you!" All the digimon's heads turned to look at Tai as he stepped out from the bushes. "What do you think you're doing? Leave them alone." The digimon surprisingly enough obeyed Tai, leaving the defenceless squirts (Mimi once again, screaming about how they should be more prepared when walking through a forest) alone and turning to attack their brand new prey.

"Bad idea Tai." Sora whispered as the group of ten screamed and ran.

            "Do you think we lost them?"

"No Mimi, we didn't loose them which is why I have a digimon's claws embedded in back." Tai commented sarcastically from his squashed (and rather painful) position in a tree. Mimi scowled, dropping her foot from where she was sat above Tai and kicked him in the head. Causing the brunette to nearly topple out the tree.

"You two, quit it." Sora hissed, her eyes franticly scanning the ground from the branch next to Tai. "Do you want to attract their attention?"

"Surprisingly enough, no I don't." Tai muttered as he rubbed his head.

"Then shut up!" Rolling his eyes and muttering about stupid know-it-all girls Tai settled back. They were obviously going to be here for a while. They had run along side the forest for a while before realising it would be perfect cover against the menacing digimon and dived into it. Thirty seconds later the digimon were still on their tail so they had split up, agreeing to find each other via digivice again. So Tai, Mimi and Sora were now sitting in a tree hoping that their friends were alright. "Ugh, this is ridiculous." Mimi groaned as she fanned her face with her hand. "Matt's not here." Tai declared, the brunette's eye was twitching. Sora shook her head and Mimi sighed, rolling her eyes as she leaned back.

"Go ahead, say it for him seeing as he's not here."

"Poor poor, Ickle Princess Mimi. The sun getting to you, Little Miss Perfect?" As good a friend as Matt and Mimi were, the blonde still had a habit of teasing her when she complained. It was like an old ritual, one that Matt was never going to give up and one that he loved to do.

"Good Tai but Matt could beat you."

"I know, I just felt like I ought to say it in his place."

"You boys are so immature."

"True." Tai said, with a smirk as he looked up at Mimi. "But you love us for it." Sora snorted, "In your dreams Tai."

"I'm offended by that, don't you love me Sora?" Tai asked in a sickly sweet voice. A light blush coloured the girl's cheeks as she opened her mouth to reply when the sound of fighting reached their ears.

"Who'd you think that is?" Mimi asked as she dropped onto Tai's branch. "Dunno, do you think we should go find out?" Sora paused, straining her ears as she listened out.

"It's two digimon fighting. Let's not 

bother, I'm sure they can take care of themselves."

~*~

            "Fist of The Beast King."

Leomon's attack slammed into the insane Drimogemon, deleting it in the process. The huge lion digimon would have felt sorry for the digimon if it hadn't felt so incredibly . . . wrong. A sense of evil overwhelmed his senses when he first laid eyes on them. There had only been a few attacking the In-Training digimon but it was enough. Him and Ogremon had instantly ran forward, determined to protect them. Tk and Ken were standing behind them, as they had been ordered. Leomon wasn't going to risk two of the chosen's lives. With a final swipe the last digimon fell, turning to dust as Leomon turned round to face the small digimon crowding around him.

"What happened?"

"The bad digimon came and attacked us." A small Koromon piped up, Leomon bent down to hear it better.

"And?"

"A group of kids came out and told them to leave us alone." Tk perked up, trotting over and joining Leomon with the digimon.

"Please tell me what happened next?"

"Well, all of the digimon turned and ran after them. Some came back after they went into the forest though." Tk shared a glance with Ken before they both pelted towards the forest.

"Tk! Come back." The lion growled and started after the pair. What in digiworld did they think they were doing?

~*~

            "What was that?" Mimi asked, excited. She jumped up and down slightly on the branch. Looking very much like she was pretending to be a monkey in the process. "Meems?"

"Do you think it was Tk?"

"No you moron." Tai said standing up, "They yelled Tk. But it still means he's here." Mimi squealed and jumped up and down again.

"Mimi . . . Tai . . . ."

"That's great! I can't believe they're here. Matt will be so happy."

"No kidding." Tai said with a snort, as he gently shoved Mimi. "Hey!" She shoved him back and Tai pushed her back and they continued to fight until-

Snap!

The pair fell a few feet to land in a pile of grass. "Oh. Ow." Tai groaned as he lay there, eyes closed against the pain in his head. "I did try and tell you." Sora said as she scrambled down the tree. "But you guys just weren't listening to me."

"You should've tried harder." Mimi complained as Tai rolled over and opened his eyes. To find himself staring into a pair of blood red eyes which blinked rather evilly at him. The first thought to cross Tai's mind was how could blinking be evil? Mind you if the person doing the blinking was evil then he supposed you could blink evilly as well. He would have carried on this debate had not the thought that the owner of the evil blinking eyes probably wanted to kill him. Jumping to his feet Tai yelled, grabbed Sora and Mimi's wrists and ran.

~*~

            A smile spread across Tk's face as he heard a terrified yell over to the right, indicating that the digidestined were indeed in the vicinity. The realisation that they were yelling in fright suddenly made him rethink his smile. He and Ken turned and darted off in that direction, Leomon and Ogremon trying to keep up with them as they ran through the undergrowth. "There they are!" Ken cried out, spotting a frantic Tai, Mimi and Sora running and screaming from a digimon that was chasing them.

"Fist of the Best King." The digimon was deleted just as it tried to attack the other three.

"Leomon?" The lion nodded at Mimi, who squealed and ran over throwing her self at the digimon.

"You're alive! I was so worried that I was never going to see you again." The huge lion looked slightly uncomfortable with having Mimi wrapped round his waist, talking about everything and anything. Sora smiled and walked over prying her friend form the digimon's waist.

"You humans are really slow."

"Ogremon." Mimi got ready to launch herself at him, when the digimon pointed at the two standing by his side.

"Tk! Ken!" The pair landed on the floor as the two girls managed to attach themselves to the boys in under a third of a second. Tai rose an eyebrow as Sora and Mimi, who proceeded to kiss and hug the life out of the two. He then turned, smiling, to the two digimon before him.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"At the moment, not too good. But we shall discuss this as we find the others." Tai nodded and followed Leomon as he set off. "Come on you two, leave the boys alone. We're going." Mimi and Sora obeyed Ogremon's words, climbing off Tk and Ken and helping them to their feet as they trudged off to find the others.

            Half an hour later and only Matt and Joe were missing. "When we find those two we are having a huge digidestined meeting." Mimi declared as they walked, "I want to know every single little detail of what has happened to you two since you got here."

"Going into the overprotective mother mode?" Sora asked her friend, the girl turned and smiled. "You betcha." A yelp pierced the air and they turned to see Joe and Matt dangling off a cliff, a group of digimon advancing on them.

"Only Matt would fall off a cliff." Mimi stated, her arms crossed as if it was a normal every day thing. Ogremon gave a weird look before running over and smacking the advancing digimon out the way. Seconds later and they were all gone and Ogremon had pulled the pair of the cliff face. Joe uttered a polite thank you while Matt bolted across the grass and tackled Tk. The younger blonde was sent flying as Matt crashed into him.

"Don't you dare ever do that to me again Squirt! I've never been more worried in my life." Matt whispered into Tk's hair as he hugged him tightly. Tk just wrapped his arms round Matt's back. "Fine by me." Tk muttered, burying his face in his brother's shoulder. Ken smiled down at his friend as Yolei hugged him tightly. That was the second time Tk had been tackled, his first tackle coming from Kari.

_'You can't talk, both Yolei and Davis tackled you at the same time. I do believe you slammed your head against a tree.'_

_'Oh, shut up.' _Tk smiled brightly at everyone as he and Matt stood up. Chatting happily the group walked off, not realising they were leaving Leomon and Ogremon behind.

"Don't you lot think? You're going the wrong way." They laughed and Tai smiled brightly at their old friends. "Sorry, it's a habit. We never knew our way round places so we always wandered round aimlessly." The group then walked back to the two digimon and past them again.

"You sure these are the kids that saved our world?"

"I think so Ogremon, I think so."

_To Be Continued . . ._

Okay, some people might take the bit between Tk and Ken oddly. But it's just friendship! Nothing else. Kind of like brotherly love, Tk was in a lot of pain because he was missing Kari and Ken was just comforting him. Nothing else. This **is **a Takari after all.

Tai: Yeah yeah, we get it. Just go already.

Fine, be that way you stupid brunette,

Tai: Ya know it's the blondes that are stupid.

*Hit's Tai over the head with a frying pan* I'm a blonde thank you very much and no matter what the others say I am not stupid! *smiles brightly at the very small audience* Ta ta!


	7. Chapter Seven: Togethert Again? Not for ...

I'm back with the seventh chapter!

Tai: Joy oh joy, woopdee do.

You could at least pretend to me happy.

Tai: Give me one good reason why, seeing as you intend on making our lives as hellish as possible.

Er . . . . . Anyway, on with the story.

Disclaimer: First chapter.

The Crests Within. Chapter Seven.

            After Leomon and Ogremon had sent the In-Training digimon on their way, they had set off. The group had spent the time catching up, though Tk and Ken hadn't spoken of their powers, and were now sitting down around a campfire, eating. They had now been filled in on the disappearances and why the groups had dropped in the middle of nowhere. Supper had been a nice meal, for once no one caring that they were eating plants, just enjoying their time with each other. It was after they had all settled down to sleep and Leomon on guard, that Tk rolled over and looked at Ken.

_'Ken.'_

_'Yeah Tk?'_

_'That's what it was! The feelings that I felt outside the digital world were Matt and Tai's. It was good and bad because they were getting hurt but good because their powers had come into play.'_

_'But what's so good about our powers?'_

_'I haven't a clue but it's to do with something important. Very important.'_

_'True. They accepted Tai and Matt do you think they'll do the same for us?'_

_'I'm sure they will, shall we tell them in the morning?'_ Ken nodded sleepily at Tk before closing his eyes, tiredly. _'Go to sleep now you stupid blonde.' _Tk's laughter filled Ken's mind as he drifted off to sleep.

            A roar broke the silence of early morning. Tk sat bolt upright to see Leomon crouched down, sword gripped tightly in his hands. The blonde could tell that something was coming by the tense look on the digimon's face. Jumping to his feet he bolted over to Matt, shaking his brother awake then jumping backwards. He knew what Matt was like in the mornings and didn't fancy getting punched. His brother's fist struck out at thin air before dropping back beside its owner.

"Whadya want Tk?" The boy was the only one who could get away from him quick enough, it had to be him. "Something's coming. We need to wake everyone up." Surprisingly enough Matt jumped up, wide awake in seconds. Darting around the two brothers proceeded to wake everyone up. In a matter of minutes all twelve digidestined were awake and ready for battle. Or as ready as you can be when you are a fourth of the size of a huge digimon that is about to come and crush you. The roar came again and Kari shivered, the sound was dark and haunting. As if declaring something that they didn't understand to the whole world. A huge creature burst through the trees, his mouth open with a snarl. It appeared to be a huge tiger, grey stripes crossing it body. It's bright red eyes swept over the digidestined, taking in where all of them were. It's huge tail thumped against the ground. Daring someone to try and attack him. Leomon took that challenge; he jumped forward swinging his sword through the air. The tiger crouched, the light reflecting of his armoured shoulders and back, before it pounced. The two huge cats slammed into each other, claws embedding in fur as they rolled over the ground, snarling and scratching. Leomon roared, a terrifying sound, and brought his sword down. The tiger stretched one paw up, halted the weapon's decent before it ripped the sword from Leomon's hands. Ogremon took a step forward about to go and get Leomon's sword for him when Mimi screamed. A fox like digimon had one set of claws in Mimi's shoulder, pinning her to the ground. The other paw was raised, claws extended, about to sink it into her heart. Crying out Ogremon charged, slamming the digimon off the girl with his club.

"No one attacks Mimi!" Apparently the digimon wasn't the only one that thought that, Matt was seething. His fists clenched tightly by his side as he glared at the foul digimon that dared to hurt **his** friend. More digimon, black and grey in colour like the fox and tiger, slinked out the forest.

"Oh dear." Sora whispered, right before a digimon turned and attacked her.

            Sora cried out, relief flooding her when she realised that Tai had sent it back with a fireball. She scrambled over and stood, shaking, behind him. "It's okay, they won't get you." Sora nodded and looked round, trying to find a way out. Behind them was a ravine, a huge river slowly making it's way through it. That way was blocked, to the east there was more forest and a few digimiles to the west was a mountain and in front of them was blocked by the group of a mad digimon.

"Davis, move!" The maroon haired boy had two digimon advancing on him. Startled at Ken's sudden cry the two took their chance and leaped. Only to find that they were still hovering in mid-air. Ken's hand was out stretched and anger was written across his face. "Leave him alone." The boy declared before he threw his hand away, sending the two digimon crashing to the ground where they didn't move. Davis turned and gaped at Ken, who was standing up a look of pure fury on his face. The digimon seemed to sense that he was a threat and moved towards him. Growling, Ken's arms swung out and he began to battle. Tk could only watch as Ken, Tai and Matt dove into battle. Wincing slightly the blonde fought down his fears and pulled his gloves off. He watched as Izzy was suddenly thrown to the ground, pinned underneath another fox digimon. Darting forward his hands made contact with the digimon's fur, in a few seconds the digimon's emotions were travelling through Tk's hands and into his body. Concentrating, Tk quickly sent them back, perhaps it was the force of having one's emotions taken and then sent back so quickly but the digimon was thrown four feet into the air and landed with a sickening thump on the ground were it was deleted. Izzy stared up in shock at Tk but the boy was already moving on, ready to face the next threat.

            The battle continued but sadly six against thirty is not going to win you a fight. The four boys were tiring, Matt and Tai especially; there was no way they could win this. And sadly enough the digimon knew this too, a group of ten started to surround Tai, Sora, Izzy and Davis. Leomon glanced over and seeing Tai struggling against the four leapt away from his current battle to defend them. His claws swung back and forth wildly as he tried to keep the digimon at bay. But to no avail, the tiger from Leomon's earlier fight appeared and smirking at the lion raised his tail and brought it down. Hard. A sonic boom filled the air, and the ground started to shake. With a tremendous groan the ground started to part, the four digidestined and digimon were thrown around before all five tumbled down the great shaft in the ground. The tiger chuckled and turned round to see how all the others were faring. Matt and Ogremon were protecting an injured Mimi who was being tended to by Joe and Cody. Tk and Ken were slowly being backed up against the ravine edge with Yolei and Kari behind them. Smirking he turned his attention to the two boys, they seemed to be quite good fighters and the blonde one was looking rather weak. Sweat was pouring down his face as he once again brought his hands up to another digimon. It would be best to finish him off before he could recover, gesturing his digimon forward, the five turned and darted over. The sudden fierce onslaught caught Tk and Ken heavily, this fact was proven when one digimon managed to get past them and knock Yolei off the edge. She let out a strangled scream as Kari latched onto her wrist and tried to pull her up. But she discovered it was rather hard to do that when a digimon was about to chew your head off.

"Tk!" The blonde spun round and stretched his hands forward, the digimon was deleted in seconds. But the attacks were taking its toll on him and the boy slumped onto his knees unable to stand up and fight. A digimon snarled and pounced, Tk went tumbling off the cliff and into the water. Kari's eyes widened and feeling of complete and utter despair welled inside as she stared at the frigid waters, tossing and turning below her. Which was probably why she didn't noticed the ground below her falling away until her and Yolei fell down to join Tk in the waters. Noticing his fiends were now all gone and determined to help them, Ken dove in after them. The water swallowing him as well. The tiger looked over to where the other group was, to find the area empty. A few knocked out digimon littered the ground, while data filled the air. Growling the rest of his troops took after the group who were now running for their lives towards the mountain.

~*~

            Tai groaned and slowly opened his eyes, then closed them again. He was surrounded by darkness so what difference did it make if he opened them? He lay there in the comforting darkness at this point truly not caring how he had ended up here. But memories of the battle they had fought filled his mind. Growling the brunette sat up . . . . . . and banged his head against a rock.

"Ow!"

"Stupid Tai."

"Ya know its comments like that that I really hate."

"Well then, try being smart for once." Sora hissed as she crawled over to him and gently prodded his head. "Oh, go away." Tai groaned batting at her hands. "Not until I'm sure you're alright." Tai rolled his eyes (honestly girls) and allowed Sora to finish examining his head. Which was kind of difficult seeing as there was hardly, if not any, light at all.

"Sitting here in the dark will do us no good. Come, we must move." Tai looked to his right to see a vague outline of Leomon. The digimon was crouched low and had started moving forwards, with one paw resting against the wall so not to bump into anything. Prodding Izzy and Davis into action, the four followed Leomon through the underground tunnel. Everything seemed to be okay aside from the fact that they were wandering around in the dark. However not all seemed to take it so well. Especially seeing as said one had never been trapped in the digital world for months on end. So ten minutes later-

"I wanna light!"

"Well I want Agumon." Davis turned to stare confusedly in the direction he thought Tai was. "One, I'm to your left not right Two, I miss my old friend and Three, he would be able to form some sort of light for us."

"Oh."

"See, my logic is best." Sora snorted, a smile playing across her lips though it was hidden in the darkness. "Keep moving I'm sure we'll find a way out soon. Just keep moving."

~*~

            "If we . . . keep running . . . do you think . . . they'll . . . stop?" Joe managed to pant out as they ran. The sound of crashing came from behind them, signalling that they were still being followed. "Don't . . . think so." Matt managed to get out, his breath was slightly wheezy and sweat coated his forehead. Mimi was thrown over one of his shoulders, seeing as she had managed to get her leg hurt as well as her arm. Joe winced and looked over at Cody who was running just as determinately as the others. He no longer had to prove that being the youngest didn't mean he was the weakest but he still kept it up. He was just as strong as the rest of them and would be fine, Matt however . . . .

The blonde wasn't looking too good and carrying Mimi as well couldn't have helped. Joe clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Matt wouldn't put Mimi down nor would he let anyone else carry her. Sometimes he was just as stubborn as Tai. Matt was going to tire quickly, Joe knew this, he hadn't studied medical school for nothing. He needed a rest, somewhere where they could hide.

"Ogremon, do you know of any places we could hide from them?" The digimon slowed down slightly as he thought the question through. "By the mountainside there's a cave, we could hide in there and hope they pass us by."

"How far?"

"We'll we've run about a digimiles and a half, I'd say another one and a half and we'll be there." Joe nodded and looked over at Matt who looked slightly relieved to know they were going to stop even if it was quite a while away. Joe was sure they could make it, they had to.

~*~

            Tk coughed violently, water spraying out of his mouth as he did so. Note to self, he thought, never stand by the edge of cliff when digimon are attacking.

_'I might second that.'_ Startled Tk looked over to the right to see Ken sprawled out across the muddy river bank.

_'Did I think it that loudly?'_

_'Just a little.' _Ken replied with a smirk, rolling his eyes at his friend Tk hauled himself out of the water.

"Where'd the others go?" He didn't have a very good memory of what happened. He remembered being knocked off the edge and having to delete the digimon to stop it from pulling him under the water. The feeling of the frosty waters pulling him along where vivid in his memory but nothing else. What was Ken doing here? The violet haired boy either read his thoughts or read his emotions on his face because he answered the unspoken question.

"Kari and Yolei fell in after you."

"Right, where are they?" His friend didn't answer, Tk winced and looked out at the rapid water. A number of possibilities ran though his mind aside from the obvious, drowning, what if they had got out and had been attacked by a digimon? What if they were still going down the stream trying to keep afloat? What if-

"Shall we go and see if we can find them?"

"Yeah, that might be a good idea."

"Might?"

"Okay a very good idea but get that ego of yours back under control." Tk turned and smiled, "Or I might have to make you keep it under control."

"Am I supposed to be scared? You're not very terrifying Tk."

"Oh shut up! I'm a lot scarier than you are!" The two continued to banter as they wandered down stream, their eyes looking out for their friends. Who they found quarter of an hour later washed up against the rocks.

            "Ow ow ow ow ow **OW**!" Tk rolled his eyes as Ken continued to bandage Yolei's arm, which had a long gash down it from where she had hit it on a rock.

"Yolei, do you ever stop complaining?" Kari asked, the small smile on her face taking the bite out of her words. Her friend looked over and glared at the brunette. Kari just smiled and stuck her tongue out at Yolei. Turning round she noticed Tk sitting to the side, a smile on his face as he listened in on the conversation. She found herself smiling aswell and standing up she walked over to sit before him. The boy was fiddling with a fingerless glove, his fingers running over a tear that had been patched up. He didn't notice Kari until she reached out to grab his hand. Startled the blonde pulled backwards, falling off the rock he was sitting on and landing on his behind. A hurt look flickered across Kari but it was nothing compared to the torn expression on Tk's face.

"Tk?" Her voice was subdued, frightened that perhaps one of the people she cared about most was angry at her.

"I'm sorry it's just that you can't touch my hands." He whispered as he quickly tugged on his glove. "Why not?"

"If you do I absorb your emotions and doing so is like taking someone's soul. If I don't get rid of it, I end up being like whoever I absorb and if I take to much I kill you . . . I think." Kari chewed her lip, a habit she did when she was worried, before throwing her arms round Tk in a hug. "Even if you could hurt someone I know you won't." The words were murmured into his hair and a soft smile played across his lips. She pulled away and smiled at him; in return he wrapped on arm round her shoulders and started to walk. (In any direction, it didn't matter, they were in the digital world after all and you usually ended up in the right place after getting lost a few times.)

"So Ken what did you do to those digimon?"

~*~

            The mountain was now not that far away from Joe and the others but the digimon were catching up with them every second. Apparently digital monsters have better stamina then a bunch of teenagers. Matt faltered, his legs nearly giving out from beneath him. Breathing heavily the blonde adjusted his hold on Mimi and continued to run. Though the term 'run' perhaps isn't the best way to describe the staggering half walk half pathetic jog that Matt was doing now. A frown was evident on Joe's face; out of all of them here he could run the fastest at the moment. Cody, though determined, was still quite young, Ogremon never was the fittest in the world and Matt . . . . Matt was going to pass out soon. The bluenette boy stopped, Matt glanced over his shoulder at his friend. "Joe what the hell are you doing?"

"Keep going." He said in a determined whisper as he turned to face on coming digimon.

"Joe are you mad?! You can't beat them."

"That's true but I might be able to hold them off until you get to the cave. Don't worry I can run fast. Now go." Instead of running Matt took a step towards his friend only to be pulled back by Ogremon. The digimon could see the determined look on the other boy's face and knew he meant business, nothing was going to stop him from protecting his friends. "He knows what he's doing, come on." The digimon then dragged the other three away, the lot of them breaking into a run seconds later as the thumping of feet grew louder. Joe's eyes narrowed as seven digimon darted out from the bushes, charging towards him. They skidded to a halt however when an earth shaking roar split the air. The tiger slowly made his way across the ground, to stand before Joe. He threw his head back and laughed. The sound sent fear running up and down his spine but he stayed.

"What do you think you are doing, little human?"

"Stopping you from hurting my friends." The grey and white face shook from side to side, his quiet chuckles the only thing to be heard. "I will kill you then your friends." Joe straitened himself out, looking down at the mighty tiger digimon before him. "Oh really and tell me who is going to be my murder?"

"Why I, of course: Torafumon."

A smile flickered across Joe's face, surprisingly determined for the boy that had been considered a scaredy cat when first arriving here. "Hear me now, I'm not called reliable for no reason. Maybe I shall die by your hands but I will not let you get to my friends." Growling Torafumon leapt into the air, intending to impale Joe on his claws.

It might be a reflexive action to throw your hands out in an attempt to stop a tiger from squashing you or not but that's exactly what Joe did. He hadn't, however, been expecting a gallon of water to shoot out of his hands and send the digimon backwards. Soaking wet and thoroughly humiliated at being beaten by a mere _human._ Torafumon staggered to his feet and glared at the boy.

"Sekigunmon attack!"

Confusion still lingered in Joe's mind but he didn't think it over at this point. His instincts were telling him what to do and your instincts were something you came to rely on when in the digital world.

_They call me reliable for a reason, I will stand up to that name._

His jaw set and eyes determined, Joe's arms flung up and the sky seemed to cry.

            Matt looked over his shoulder and blinked once, twice and one more time again. In the distance he could see Joe's figure surrounded by a silver haze, his hands were thrown up and . . .

And water was spraying from them, hitting the digimon and sending them backwards. A smile spread across Matt's face. "Ogremon!" The digimon turned round to look at him and the blonde dumped Mimi in his hands before taking off at a run. His ability was ice and ice is frozen water. So technically if a digimon was covered in water he could freeze them. Sprinting across the ground with a new found hope he reached Joe and stretched his hands out. The soaking wet Sekigunmon that had been soaring through the air towards his friend, froze. Ice crept along it's legs then chest before the whole digimon was frozen in a block of ice. It fell to the ground like a stone, landing with a thump on the churned up grass. Matt smiled at Joe and the two turned to face the remaining digimon which all joined their comrade's fate except one. Neither boy could see any trace of Torafumon. He was gone for the time being and hopefully wouldn't be back soon.

_To Be Continued . . . _

Oh and Torafumon belongs to me! I know it's a weird name but Torafu means Tiger Stripes in Japanese. So I thought hey add an mon on the end and it would be a good name for him!  :)

Tai: Please ignore her, she's in a weird mood.

No I'm mad, or did you by chance not notice the name? But that's not the point, the Sekigunmon are also mine. But I ain't gonna to explain their names to you just yet! That comes up later in the story!


End file.
